Gravity Falls Life With Macie Pines
by HowToLoveADragon
Summary: Cover made by my friend PacificDraws! Join Macie as she starts her new life with her twin siblings! After the events of Gravity Falls, Macie returns home with Dipper and Mabel to begin the new life she was given. Sequel to Gravity Falls REBORN. Cannon compilation of one shots. Will update randomly, so no schedule. Give me suggestions if you want to see Macie do anything specific!
1. Welcome To Piedmont

Three more hours and two panic attacks later, the Speedy Beaver finally comes to a stop. I stand up immediately, grabbing my things and tripping over Waddles as the livestock sleeps on the floor, rushing my way to the front of the vehicle and out the doors. I greedily take a deep breath of fresh air.

"Whoa! Wait up, Mace!" I hear Dipper call me from behind. Turning around, I see said boy tumble out the doors with his luggage toppling on top of his small frame. I cover my lips as I giggle and Mabel steps over him, Waddles following suit, but not having the decency to _not_ step on the poor boy. "Oof..." he groans, accepting defeat on the cement.

"Come on, Dipper! Get up!" Mabel kicks at his side.

"Mabel, chill!" I command through laughs. She stops and allows Dipper to get up, which he does with a groan. "Ahhh." I take another deep breath of the crisp, California air. "I haven't been to California in a while," I exclaim.

"Well it's only been three months, silly." A new voice startles me, causing me to whip around and search for whoever spoke. The twins catch a glimpse of my face and burst into a fit of giggles, clutching their stomachs and everything. Farther down the sidewalk are two adults walking our way, waving.

 _'I am so confused...'_

"Ow!" I recoil when an elbow comes out of nowhere, jabbing me sharply in the side. I look at Dipper with a 'What?!' look on my face, silently asking what I'm missing here.

"Those are our parents, Mace!" he whisper-shouts.

"Oh...OH!" I start to get really nervous, fidgeting my hands around as I don't know what to do in this situation. "What do I do? What do I do?" I ask in a panic, "I don't know them! I-I-I-" Mabel snaps me out of my funk, as she grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me vigorously.

I awkwardly smile as Dipper grabs my hand and waves to the adults for me. "Mom, Dad!" Mabel cries, running up to them and hugging them joyfully.

"Just be yourself," Dipper tells me.

"Be myself? Do they know me as myself? I mean, I don't know what happened before Gravity Falls, so what if they recall childhood memories?" My brother's eyes widen, probably not thinking of that.

"Uh, just leave it to me and Mabel, it'll be okay." I sigh and hum an 'Okay'.

"Dipper! Macie!" The mom kneels down with her arms open wide. _'Uhhhh...?'_

Sensing my discomfort, Dipper coughs, "Mom, don't you think we're a little too old to run and jump into your arms?"

"Oh, you two, always so mature!" mom laughs and stands back up. "We can talk about your guys' summer over dinner tonight."

"She's right, we made turkey." The man, whose shoulders Mabel is riding on, I assume is my father, starts to lead the way home. I lag around Dipper, not quite comfortable with these people, yet.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Awkward encounters! They happen to you whether you like it or not!~~**

After walking for a little while, we stop in front of a normal looking city home, surrounded by others that look similar. _'It seems like a nice, quaint neighborhood,'_ I think as I take a look around. "Alright, guys. Go up to your rooms, unpack your stuff, then get washed up and come down for dinner," our Dad tells us as Mom opens the door.

As I walk inside the house, Mabel and Dipper run ahead, the first thing I notice is the simple-ness. There's a stairway when you first walk in. _'I assumed it would be two-story from the very beginning of Gravity Falls that showed the twins in their home...'_ To the left of the stairs is the way to walk further into the building, a picture frame hangs on the wall there. _'From the show, too...'_

"Macie." I turn around at the woman's voice. "Go unpack, quickly!" She smiles with her hands on her hips. I nod and run upstairs with my stuff.

I bump into Mabel. "Sorry," I mumble.

"Macie, hurry up!" Mabel grabs my hand and drags me forward.

"W-wait! What's the bedroom situation, anyways?!" I cry, then get jostled when my sister stops so suddenly.

Dipper, who looked smug as a bug, walks over with his arms crossed. "Well, while this house is a two-story, there's only three bedrooms. So it's you and Mabel in one, while I got the other." I throw my head back, ignoring the pop it made, and groan long and loud.

"I was hoping you guys shared a room," I admit with a shrug.

"What? Why?" Dipper gets taken aback. He looks ridiculous, it's hilarious!

"I dunno... I liked the thought of you two sharing a room because you're twins..." Rubbing the nape of my neck, I avoid contact. "Maybe I should cut back on the Gravity Falls fanfiction..." I chuckle nervously.

"Yeahhhh, please do," Dipper says, giving me a weird look. Mabel, who's been standing there silently watching our exchange, claps her hands, loudly, causing me to recoil. I didn't get to move back much, though, as this girl's grip on my wrist is tight as heck.

"Welp, enough of...whatever this is! Let's go unpack, Mace!"

"Gah!" I get tugged by the alpha...triplet and practically get thrown into my new room. _'Well, new to me...'_

"Here it is!" I look up, taking in the bright pink, and I mean _bright_ , room. "Whaddy'a think? A while back, we got to do some competitions to see who got to choose the wall color. I won, of course!" Mabel explains, puffing her chest out with a giggle.

"Did you have to choose such a _bright_ pink?" I ask, over-dramatically shielding my eyes.

"Yep!" She smiles brightly, but, and this might just be me, it looks very strained.

"Whatever, at least we got a bigger room than Dipper, right?"

"Yea, we did, haha." _'Oh thank goodness!'_ I sigh in relief.

Now, I take the time to look around my room, gasping when I see stuff I had in my world. "Oh my gosh! My Funko Pops!" In the corner lies my computer with the corner desk it sits on. "My desktop! Wait..." I frown, moving some Pops around. "Where's my Gravity Falls ones?"

"Huh? You have Gravity Falls Funko what's its?" Mabel comes up behind me.

"Funko Pops, Mabel. And yes, I do...er, did? I dunno, everything else is here." I point to my collection for emphasis.

"Wait! Am I a Funko Pop?!" Mabel shrieks, jumping up and down.

"Quiet down!" I hush her. Looking under _'What I assume is mine'_ my bed, I continue speaking, "Yeah, I do- or I mean I did...wait, what's this?" I shimmy back out from under, holding a box. I place it on my legs, after sitting on my bed, and open it. "Yes!" My Gravity Falls collectibles are all in there!

"Whoa!" Mabel 'aws'. "Wait, I'm gonna go get Dipper!" she tells me and runs out the room. I start to go through my stuff, picking them up one by one.

"Dipper Pines...Mabel Pines...Mabelcorn Mabel...Ghost Dipper...Grunkle Stan...Bill and chase edition Bill! Good, they're all here!"

"And then, she started freaking about those weird Pop things she likes to collect..." Mabel comes in with our brother. "Look!" She points to my box and Dipper peers in. "Apparently we were made into some, too!"

"Whoa..." Dipper breathes, taking the one modeled after him and gaping at it.

"And here, look!" I hand Dipper the other version of him and Mabel both of hers. "There's a limited edition of you and Dipper. Mabelcorn Mable and Ghost Dipper."

"Ugh, whoever made this...did they really have to make the special version of me the time I messed up badly?" I laugh at his dismay.

"I like mine! I'm holding unicorn hair and there's rainbow blood on me! My sweater's even ripped where I ripped it out!" Mabel points out excitedly.

Laughing, I hide the Bills momentarily. "And I got Grunkle Stan...he doesn't stand up properly..." I pout, thinking about how annoying standing him up is. "And don't hate me for this...but I also got Bill Cipher ones..." Both of my siblings freeze. Then their heads slowly move up to face mine and all I see are horrified looks etched onto theirs.

"No way." I don't say anything. "Of course you do..." Dipper sighs. I take both boxes out from behind my back and show them to the two.

"Ahhh! Evil!" Mabel, when I hand her a Bill, immediately lobs it across the room, hitting the wall with a bang.

With a look of horror, I scold the girl, "Mabel! Don't just throw it!" She pouts and goes over to pick it up.

"Macie...why?" Dipper finally speaks.

"Why? Because Bill is one of my favorite characters from the show," I admit which he looks at me with confusion and terror. "Oh don't give me that look...I wanted all of them to complete the series, too! You can't blame me for loving the show and the villain."

"I guess you're right..." A small smile grows on Dipper as Mabel comes back, mumbling an apology and handing me my valuable.

"Thanks," I tell her, then turn back to the brunette male, "and I also think I know why these were under the bed...I assume...?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah yeah, I totally get why the universe put them under there," the boy agrees, nodding his head with his finger on his chin.

"I get it, too! And, I wanna be a part of this conversation!" Mabel pouts with a whine.

"Okay, okay, Mabel," I laugh and stand up. "Now let's finish unpacking. Dipper, did you finish?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah...I didn't bring much so..."

"I see...Okay, well, get out!" I shove him out the door and slam it, smiling at Mabel's guffaws and Dipper's groans of pain. I brush my hands together. "Okay, back to unpacking- oh! Lemme turn on my computer, too. I wanna see if it has all the stuff from my world."

I turn around in my computer chair to speak to Mabel, but she seems to be off in her own little world, jumping on her mattress, causing it to squeak with each bounce. _'She doesn't look happy, though,'_ I observe.

A knocking sound abrupts my thoughts as Dipper's head pokes in. "Dinner. Mom'll be mad if we're late." I get up and head downstairs, the twins following suit, and breathe in a delicious aroma that's wafting in the air. The kitchen, I notice, kinda looks like my old one.

 _'Don't ask me to describe it, because I don't know how!'_

I take a seat at the table when Mabel starts snickering, sitting in a chair of her own. "What?" I ask in a hushed voice.

"That's not your chair..." she tells me in between giggles.

"We have assigned chairs?" _'Seriously?!'_

"Yeah, yours is right here," Dipper points to a chair next to him. So I move and take a seat there instead, brushing my hair out of my face.

"Here we go~" Mom sing-songs, placing a plate of turkey on the dinner table. Then she sits down next to me, while Dad places himself down next to Mabel. So if we're looking at us from afar, the seating arrangement, apparently, is Mom, me, Dipper, Mabel, Dad.

"Smells good, Mom!" Mabel bounces in her seat, fork in hand.

"So," Dad starts, taking a serving of meat. "What did you three think of your Grunkle Stan?"

"He's amazing!" Mabel answers first with excitement.

"Yeah, lemme tell you..." Dipper starts to get excited as well.

I decide to just let them talk about summer as I zone out and pick at my food.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: "There's a time and place for everything, and I believe it's called 'fanfiction'. -Joe Whedon~~**

"Well it sounds like you three had a wonderful summer, I'm so glad!" Mom washes the dishes while Dad puts food away.

"Yup!" Mabel finished chewing her final bite.

"Well, it's late, you little rascals should head up to bed." Groaning, the twins get up at our Dad's command.

The male twin grabs my wrist and tugs me up out of my seat. "Okay, okay, I'm coming!" He doesn't stop despite my pleas.

"Night, Mom and Dad!" _'Haha, twins!'_ I think when they say their good nights at the same time.

"Come on, Mace, let's go!" Dipper passes me off to our sister, to which she skips to our room, me being dragged along.

"Kay..." I walk in and settle down on my comforter, getting in and getting comfy in the process with a sigh of bliss.

I fall asleep instantly, not noticing Mabel left the room with a pillow and blanket.

 **~~Time Jump~~**

I wake up about an hour later, this...feeling nagging me in the back of my mind, so I get up and walk over to Mabel's bed. _'What?'_ She's not there.

Yawning, I exit the room and make my way to Dipper's. _'Crap, which one was his?'_ I can't decide between two doors. Testing my luck, I open the door closest to mine. It squeaks open and, as I open my eyes, I see Dipper sitting on his bed, rubbing Mabel's back with a frown on both faces.

"Whaaaat's goin' on in here?" I ask quietly.

Gasping, Mabel whirls around and wipes her eyes hastily.

"Nothin, Mabel was just...uneasy..." Dipper replies...with unease.

"Mabel," I walk over slowly, "wanna talk about it?"

"Nuh-uh." She shakes her head into Dipper's chest.

He looks up with a frown, "I've been trying to get her to talk for a little while now..." My lips form an 'O' shape.

"Well... Why didn't you come and get me instead of walking all the way over here and getting Dipper?"

"I-I dunno...I just felt...it felt instinctual to get Dipper..." I try and think what she means by this.

 _'Instinctual... Might be something about their bond...'_

"Well...Come on, Mabes, you can talk to me you know?" She sniffs again.

"Yeah...I know..." I sigh in relief.

"Good, now let's get back to bed, yeah?" I hold out my hand for her to take. She grabs hold so I take her back, but before I shut our brother's door, I mouth back to him...

' _Goodnight_.'

He smiles and mouths back the same thing

 **First chapter of my new series. Thank you everyone for reading and I do hope you enjoyed!**

 **Suggestions! Gimme some for what you want to see Macie do or talk about!**

 **Not everything is going to be chapter by chapter, some will be time skipped.**

 **Special thanks to my friend PacificDraws for making the amazing fan-art I used for my cover!**


	2. Rhodophobia

**As of now, I'll be writing down the dates of when each chapter is!**

 **September 1st 2012**

As I'm eating cereal at the kitchen table, I think to myself about last night, _'I need to get to the bottom of what Mabel was so upset about... Is this how the twins felt when they were worried about me? Oh man...'_

"Hey, Mace," Dipper greets while yawning, going into a cabinet and grabbing down, what looks like, oatmeal.

"Mornin'." Taking another bite, I just about sneeze, but luckily hold it in until I'm done. "ACHOO!" I try to not cringe at the mess I made and quickly clean it up.

"Bless you." _'Thank goodness Dipper's back is to me!'_

"Thanks." He comes and sits down next to me in his seat, a glass of orange juice next to his bowl. "So, I'm trying to find out what was wrong with Mabel last night..." I try and start a conversation.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, we should look into that. It's not like her to do that and she seemed fine before bed." Narrowing my eyes, I tilt my head and make a whining sound.

"Weellll, I notice she looked troubled when we were unpacking." My brother looks surprised as he sets his spoon down.

"Okay, we'll talk to her, then." I nod my head in agreement with him.

"Talk to who?" Mabel walks in, pulling yet another sweater over her head.

"You. We want to talk to you about last night," I tell her, which makes her frown just a bit.

"Oh...okay." The girl sits down begrudgingly.

"Soooo," I start when Dipper doesn't, "can you tell us why you seemed depressed lately? I noticed that you seemed on edge when we were in our room."

"Well... It may or may not be the color of the walls..." She rubs her arms. Dipper and I look at each other, concerned. We don't speak so she can go on, which she does, "Um...the walls remind me of...Bill's prison he put me in and it...it just really scares me, I'm not sure how to explain it. The pinkness...it makes me want to retreat into Sweater Town."

"Oh Mabel..." Dipper gets up and hugs her.

"Sorry, I know, it's stupid," the teary-eyed girl chuckles and wipes her eyes.

"No, it's not stupid, actually, it kinda makes sense..." I get up now, as well. They look to me quizzically. "The color must trigger some sort of PTSD in you..."

"How do we fix it?" Mabel cries.

"Mabel," Dipper sighs, "you can't just cure PTSD," he explains sorrowfully.

"Sometimes the best thing to do is get rid of the source. You know, what triggers it." I go and put me and Dipper's dishes in the sink, then sling an arm around my sweater-wearing sis. "Let's see what we can do, yeah?"

Sniffling, Mabel nods. "Plus, you should have talked to us about this. We can help you, Mabel, you shouldn't be going through this sort of thing all by yourself."

"I agree with Dip'." I jab my thumb into his ribs, causing him to laugh and recoil. "Okay, let's see what we can do about the room, and then after all that is settled, we'll get together and talk about whatever's troubling us, including the story when I died, I'll tell you that, too."

"Sounds fair, I like it." Putting his fist up in determination, Dipper heads up to the bedrooms.

"Um, Macie...?" Mabel shyly rubs her heel in the ground, avoiding contact. I hum in question. "I...I just wanted to tell you...about last night. I'm sorry I didn't come and get you, it's weird but, I just felt the need to be near Dipper."

"I understand. While I'm here now, you two still have a greater bond and it's only natural to want your real twin." I smile sadly.

"But that's just it!" she cries, taking a step forward in seriousness and now looking me in the eye. "I don't want to feel like I need to get Dipper, because you're our triplet we should have the same amount of bond-ness!"

"Tha-that's not a word." I get ignored as she keeps talking.

"So, like, me and Dipper decided we're going to spend so much time with you so that we can grow closer together! That way, the universe will be used to you in it."

Laughing, I halfheartedly agree with slight amusement, "Fine, fine, we'll try that out. But I doubt the universe will ever be normal with me in it..."

"Nah, it's gonna feel _so_ normal, you'll think you have always been here!" Mabel woops, her eagerness reappearing in full throttle.

"Kay, let's go! First step of my genius idea...we need Mom and Dad, where are they?" I stand in a battle stance for no reason.

"Um, well Dad works and Mom is usually in the garden early in the morning."

"Great, to the garden!" I point, marching out the kitchen doorway. Then, I turn around with an embarrassed smile, "Which way is the backyard...?"

Giggling, Mabel gestures for me to follow her.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Tricks! What kind do you think Macie has up her sleeve?~~**

"Waddles!" Mabel runs ahead as we exit to the backyard, her arms out wide, scooping her pig up and twirling him around in a bone crushing hug.

"Mabel, dear, could you please keep Waddles out of my garden?" the adult says, kneeling down in front of a planter box. She's wearing your typical, cliche garden wear: sun hat, gloves, capris...the usual.

"Sure, Mom! Waddles! Come'ere!" The pig follows the thirteen year old back into the house, where I assume she's putting him in our room.

"That pig..." Mom sighs with a chuckle, "Wasn't sure about him at first but the look your sister gave your father and I...we just couldn't say no."

"Yeah..." I awkwardly stand there, watching the lady I call 'Mom' dig her hands into rich soil. "Um, anyway...Mom?"

"Yes, Macie?"

 _'Why do I feel so freaking weird right now?! Oh that's right...BECAUSE I TECHNICALLY DON'T KNOW THIS WOMAN!'_

"Well, me and Mabel were wondering if we could change the color of our room? You know, now that we're...teenagers?" _'That's a good reason, right?'_

"Now you know how hard Mabel worked to get that color?" _'No...'_

"Yeah, but she wants a different color, too! Or- or! Maybe we can do half and half of a color of our choice!" _'Like my old room!'_

"We'll see, I'll have to talk to your father," she replies, putting a flower in a hole she dug.

"Yes!" I jump in victory, "Thanks Mom!" and run back inside, where I see Mabel scolding the poor thing.

"Waddles, you need to learn that this isn't Gravity Falls, so there's rules and whatnot!" The pig oinks. Sighing, Mabel kneels down and pets her pet, "I can't stay mad at you...but you gotta be careful with what you do so you don't get in trouble, kay?" I bend down and pet the pink, plump, pig as well.

"Oink!" he squeals, causing me and my sister to laugh.

"Well, what did mom say?" Shooting Star asks, standing up and dusting off her skirt.

"She said she has to talk to Dad, but I have high hopes." She grins and jumps in place, clapping her hands vigorously.

"Yippee! Oh! Come on, we gotta go do some serious-y talk all together!" _'Oh yeah..._ '

"Right, let's go." I let my sister drag me all the way up to the upstairs hallway.

She stops abruptly in front of our door. It's a simple door, white, with square designs in it. Nothing too flashy, considering this is Mabel we're talking about. _'I'm gonna have to have a day with her to spruce up this door...'_

"Um...are we doing this in our-our room?" I pat the poor girl's back.

"No, it's okay, we'll do it in Dipper's." I take her and open Dipper's door to his place, silently thanking Thor that I remembered which one it was.

"Hey, guys, come on in," our brother welcomes us, sitting on the floor, doing something I can't see since his back is to us. Mabel instantly takes a seat next to him, while I hover and peer to see what he's doing.

The boy seems to be making some sort of...board...graph? I dunno, but it looks like someting to keep tally with. "What're you making?" I ask.

"A board to tally down each thing that's been bothering us. That way, we'll know how many things are troubling each other and fix it!" _'Dipper seems way too excited about this method.'_

"And how does that even-"

"It's great!" Mabel interrupts me. Then she shields her mouth and whispers, "Just roll with it, Dipper gets these terrible ideas and needs us to boost his spirits when they end up not working."

Opening my mouth agape, I nod in silent acknowledgment. "Alright," Dipper claps, facing us, to which we hastily stop looking suspicious. "Let's start, shall we?"

"Yep!" The hyperactive girl plops down on the carpeted floor, criss-crossed.

"Sure..." I settle on the floor as well, while Dipper has been there. "Where do we start?"

"Well, I thought you should go first, since you were _supposed_ to tell us the story on the bus but never got around to it." Dipper's eyebrow raises as he gestures a hand outwards.

"Well _sor-ry_ for having panic attacks," I pout and look away. The boy splutters.

"Wait, wait, wait! That's not what I meant!" He quickly tries to take back what he said, so I laugh, generating him to stop fussing.

"Dude, chill, I was joking..." He sighs deeply in relief. "Now, I'm starting?" Mabel nods eagerly so I take a deep breath. "Alright...so when Bill snapped his fingers, I heard someone cry my name and everything went black." The twins' faces turn somber and guilt ridden. "I know that look, you two, don't be feeling guilty," I point at them. "Anyway, I woke up in some sort of water world...I dunno it was weird. But there was this huge AXOLOTL!"

"Whoa! Like the one Grunkle Stan had in his fish tank?" I nod affirmatively, to which Mabel coos.

"It told me that I wasn't supposed to see it until the end of the show, when you two are on the bus. Apparently he was gonna give me a choice of staying here or going back to my world, but had to do it sooner because of Bill..."

Both siblings gasp, Mabel covering her mouth dramatically.

"So...I had to choose between being REBORN and wake up with you two, live my life here, permanently as Macie. Or, wake up back home in my universe, while the show would go on as if I was never there. You two would have no memories but I would." Mabel starts sobbing, latching onto me as I look confused and surprised by the sudden attack.

"Ma-Macie, oh my gosh, you had a choice to go home...and you chose us?!" I pat the girl's trembling back.

Opening my mouth to speak, Dipper cuts me off, "Macie..." he sniffs, _'Oh my gosh he's crying!'_ "The fact that you could have gone home...fix everything that happened to you...but chose us...thank you!"

I open my arms wider, so he comes and hugs me, too.

"Something had happened back in my world to have the AXOLOTL send me here. I'm here for a reason. I couldn't just leave you or anyone else. You're my entire life now." I rub my eyes a little, feeling them pool with water, but thankfully they don't spill.

"You're the best. We're so glad you stayed." Both let me go when Mabel nods her head in agreement with our brother.

"I am, too... So who's next-?"

"KIDS!" A man's voice calls for us, startling me out of my sentence.

"It's Dad! Run!" the twins cry at the same time, standing up and running downstairs with extreme speed. _'Welp...okay then...'_

Standing up, I crack my knuckles, pop my knees and my back, sighing in satisfaction.

I just about trip down these mother flipping stairs. _'I've never grown up in a house with stairs, so shut it!'_

"MACIE!" Mabel tackles me when I get down. I land on the floor with a thud and a newly throbbing ache in my side. "Mom and Dad said they'll paint our room for us! But only one color." The adults nod when I look to them.

"That's great! Do you know what color you want?" I ask the girl.

"Yup!...Light purple!"

Dipper takes me aside and whispers in my ear, "We'll finish what we started later?"

"Yeah..." I smile and hold him close, watching our sister go at it in room painting plans to our parents.

 **Does anyone know why she chose light purple? Kudos to those who do!**

 **I always liked the idea of Mabel's room being pink and her being afraid of it because of her prison bubble. I've seen many stories like that, so I credit whoever came up with it first!**

 **Question: Does anyone know when schools in Piedmont California start?**

 **I'm going to try and make each chapter AT LEAST 2000 words.**


	3. You Had Me At Yellow--Flower?

**Thank you, Dragon Ryd3r for requesting the twins learn about Undertale!**

 **So apparently schools in Piedmont, California started on August 22nd...I'm just gonna have the school start in my story on the 22nd of September. (Thank you Bedrock Armor for the info~)**

 **September 4th 2012**

I start my morning with a bang. No, not the good kind, and yes, seriously, I did. It was horrible...at first. And now I'm stuck outdoors with two unprepared siblings and absolutely _no_ electronics.

 _~~1 hour earlier~~_

"GET UP!" I shoot up in my bed with a scream as Waddles goes flying off my chest, landing on the floor and then getting up like nothing happened. Our room was finished about a day ago, but our parents said to keep our posters off the wall for another few days. The lilac walls shimmer in the morning sunlight that creeps through a single window in my shared bedroom.

"Why are you yelling?!" I yell right back to my sister, who is currently running around the room like a madman.

"Dipper and I have big plans! BIG PLANS!" She repeats, then emphasizes 'big plans' like someone on a TV show I liked watching...

"What kind of plans?" Rubbing my eyes, I throw my legs over the side of my bed and stand up.

"It's a surpriiiise!" Mabel sing-songs, running out into the hall. Her head quickly pokes back in as soon as I thought I was safe, so I flinch since her smile is way too wide for my liking. "Oh, get dressed and come downstairs! Waddles, you too!"

"Oink!" the pig squeaks and follows his owner.

 _'Okaaaaay...I don't have time for this... I'm a grown woman and have better things to do...'_ I laugh to myself, _'What am I thinking? Of course I have nothing better to do...wait...'_

Self pity aside, I get dressed in a simple outfit consisting of my normal camo leggings, but instead of my blue and grey shirt, I throw on a plain black tee with a fat, grey cat on the front, eating burgers and fries.

Descending downstairs, I run into Mom. "Morning, sweetie, did Mabel wake you?" I nod silently. "Well, she's waiting for you out back with Dipper," she tells me and then heads upstairs to, I assume, her room.

I pass the living room, the kitchen, and even the spare bathroom, before I reach the back door. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, that is, until I turned around. There, on the side of our house is a large image projected by a projector further in the yard, although it's hidden behind a bush or two for some reason.

"Whaaaat is going on?" I ask, completely and utterly confused by this randomness.

Mabel comes from behind the bush and, hilariously tripping over his shoes, Dipper comes out, too. He looks pretty proud of himself after falling on his face, but who am I to judge?

"This...my dear sister, is a screen projected onto the house wall!" Dipper announces, gesturing his arms to the building.

"Uh," I roll my eyes, "yeah, I can see that. I'm asking why?"

"So we can play a game on your laptop!" Dipper quickly goes into panic mode as I start to frown in, not confusion, but anger.

"Mabel! I told you not to tell her!" He tries covering her mouth but recoils when she licks him.

"But- you were gonna anyways!" she retorts.

"Tell me what?! Dipper, you went through my laptop?!" They both stop at my accurate accusation. Mabel elbows him as he tugs at his shirt collar, his whole body stiff and sweaty.

"Heh...maybe- BUT!" he quickly splutters, taking a step back and throwing his arms out in defense as I take a menacing step closer. "I-I-I just wanted to surprise you with a special day so that we can hang out with one of your world's video games!"

"But you didn't have to go into my laptop, you should have asked!" Mabel giggles at my fury, again, elbowing Dipper.

"Told ya so, Dip'." I gesture to Mabel that she's right, he should of.

"It was a surprise! I couldn't tell you!" I sigh. _'Dipper's not going to lose this arguement if he doesn't want to...'_

"Fine! What did you do?" The boy smiles at my question.

"Well," he looks to be in a storytelling stance. _'What the actual-'_ "First I was looking to see where that Five Night's at Freddy's game was, but couldn't find it on the desktop. There were only a few things like some saved images- don't worry! I didn't go into them!"

"You better not have..." I say coolly, but inside I'm panicking, _'WHAT IF HE DID? OH MY GOSH HOW DO I EXPLAIN MY PICTURES?!'_

(My anime obsession photos! Wait, what kind of pictures did you think I was talking about?!)

"There was this web browser I've never heard of, so I assumed it was from your place." I nod as Mabel seems to be pondering about...something and I don't wanna know what. "Then I saw a program called Steam and, obviously, I had to check it out! Opening it, thank goodness it was already signed in." I groan at my stupidity for keeping my stuff logged in.

"Then...?" I squeeze my eyes closed, anxiety building up at what he will say next.

"I found this game called Undertale and it looks like an RPG so I thought it'd be super fun to try!"

"Oh... That's it? Why..." I put my head down, hand on my forehead and sigh deeply, "Know what? I don't care, let's just play..."

"Yes!" Mabel jumps in the air while Dipper practically shivers in excitement. Grabbing a seat they set up, Mabel throws a blanket over her kicking legs.

"So, who's playing?" I ask, taking the middle seat.

Dipper takes the one on my right, after hooking up my laptop to the projector. "Oh, definitely me. Mabel and I already agreed and then next game we do she'll play."

"Sounds like you guys already have everything planned without even asking me first..." I grumble.

"Yep!" both say at the exact same time, successfully spooking me. _'Though I don't know why I'm not used to it by now...'_

"Kay, then play, start it up," I urge the frantic but excited boy, to which he runs the game and picks up the remote he hooked up to my computer. "How did you hook that up...never mind, I don't wanna know..." _'I need to stop questioning this universe...'_

The theme song for Undertale plays as the sepia screen tells the story between human and monsters. Dipper reads the intro out loud as I browse my phone for a second, already seeing the game multiple times and playing it for myself.

"Name the fallen human... What should I name myself, guys?" The pubescent voice of my brother jerks me back into reality as I look up.

"Mabel! Wait wait no, Waddles! Wait wait no..." Mabel starts spewing random names.

"If you want to do the game the real way, I'd suggest using the name 'Chara'... I lean back into my chair.

"Kay." Dipper's tongue sticks out as he puts in the characters. _'Hah!_

"Aww," Mable mumbles, "I wanted you to be named something cuter..." We ignore her outrageous name rant.

After naming the player, Frisk (The actual name of the character in game) is shown on the ground of a cave, light shining above and golden flowers that broke their fall brushing against their ankles.

"Aw- YES!" I startle at Dipper's outburst, glaring at him in question. "Sorry...I just really love RPGs!"

Rolling my eyes, I yawn, wishing I hadn't read as much fan fiction as I did last night if I knew this was going to be my morning.

 ** _"Howdy! I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower!"_**

"Cuuuuuteee!" Mabel gushes at the soulless flower.

"I dunno, should I trust him, Macie?" Dipper asks warrily.

"Dude, I ain't telling you anything. You're playing this blind," I tell him sassily, earning a tongue in my direction.

"Fine, fine..." He progresses the dialogue.

 ** _"Hmmmm...You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused!"_**

"Who says golly?" Mabel whispers beside me, making me snort and then blush because I snorted.

 ** _"Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! Guess little ol' me will have to do!"_**

"Nooooo!" Mabel suddenly wails. Dipper and I sit up quickly and ask her what's wrong in a panic. "The flower was so cute but now he just sounds like Gide-ee-on!" she slurs his name in disgust. I roll my eyes and slap the girl jokingly, causing her to sit back down and giggle.

 ** _"Ready? Here we go!"_**

The battle initiates and Dipper's red soul flies out, getting in the box and ready for battle. "Whoa!" I smile at my brother's enthusiasm.

 ** _"See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!"_**

The SOUL moves around as Dipper tests out the controls with his remote.

 ** _"Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."_** I roll my eyes at Flowey. _'I can't even tell you how many times I have either played this game or seen a play-through._

"LV? That means level, right? Yes! I love leveling up!" _'Oh stupid...stupid naive Dipper...'_ I shake my head in mock disappointment but can't help as my mouth twitches upwards.

 _ **"What does LV stand for? Why, LOVE of course!"**_

"Wait, what? Aw man is this some kind of romance RPG?" I shush the boy and his complaints.

 ** _"You want some LOVE, don't you?"_**

"I do, I do!" Mabel raises her hand like she's trying to get a teacher's attention.

 ** _"Don't worry! I'll share some with you!"_** Flowey winks, a pixelated star appears after and then quickly dissipates into the background. ** _"Down here, LOVE is spread through...little white...'Friendliness Pellets'."_**

"Uh, this seems kinda sketchy..." Dipper observes, smartly, I might add, since to the left of me Mabel is gushing about how cute AND nice the flower is being.

Flowley's pellets appear near him as he sends them down to the player's SOUL.

 ** _"Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"_**

First, Dipper goes and dodges them all, making me smile proudly. _'My dude knows what's up!'_

 ** _"Hey, buddy, you missed them. Let's try this again."_**

"Dipper! Touch the friendliness thingys!" Mabel pouts, pointing at the bullets on the side of our mother flipping house. _'Yeah, did you forget we're playing Undertale on the side of a building? Me too...'_

"Mabel, I don't think it's a good idea- I mean, look!" The brunette gestures to the game, "I dodged them all and he looks super mad. Wouldn't someone who's giving you LOVE be patient and nice?"

"Ugh, Dip' you don't get games, do you? Oh well, I'll help!" Shooting Star steps out of her seat and literally climbs over my lap to sit in Dipper's, taking his remote as he and I try to comprehend what the heck just happened.

By this time, Flowey already sent another round of pellets, so Mabel goes and runs into them, of course. "No, Mabel!" Dipper cries, shoving her off of him. She lands on the lawn with a thud and gets up briskly, dusting herself and goes to berate Dipper.

 ** _"You idiot..."_ **The twin's stop their quarrel as the text box shakes. **_"In this world, it's kill or BE killed! Why would ANYONE waste an opportunity like this?!"_**

Pellets surround the battle box and slowly close in. "AHHH! MABEL LOOK WHAT YOU DID! NOW I'M GOING TO DIE!"

"AHH I'M SORRY DIPPER!" The twins hold onto each other for dear life when the bullets close in. I sigh as they dramatically close their eyes for their inevitable doom.

 ***BANG***

I jump out of my seat, landing on the grass with my heart beating out of my chest. My nose crinkles, _'Is...is that smoke?!'_ I stand up in fear, trying to pinpoint where the smell is coming from.

"Macie!" Dipper cries, but it's from afar and not right next to me like he has been for the past ten minutes. I spot the boy coughing and waving his hand over the projector. It's emanating black smoke as sparks occasionally fly.

"What happened?!" I run over and fan the air alongside the male twin.

"I dunno! It must have shorted out or something...oh man, oh man!" Pine Tree flails his hands around anxiously.

"RUNN!" Mabel screams, running in the house, passing Dad, whose hands are crossed and he does not look happy. At all...

"Dipper, Macie, what is the meaning of this and why did Mabel run inside screaming her lungs out?" he asks in a stern voice.

"When doesn't Mabel run inside screaming her lungs out..." Dipper mumbles and avoids eye contact. While I would be laughing by now, I'm still maintaining eye contact with the large man in front of me. So instead of busting a gut, I slam my foot down onto my brother's. He recoils and cries out in pain, but stops soon after seeing our dad's face.

"Dipper? That was my vintage projector and now it's broken!"

"I-I'm sorry! It wasn't Macie's fault, though, so don't punish her!" _'Aw, he's sticking up for me! Wait, I don't need sticking up for!'_

"Too late, all of you were involved." Dad picks up his burnt machine and my laptop, also gathering up all the cords. "You three, outside, no more electronics at all today, got it? Macie, I need your phone, Dipper, your handheld and...I'll get Mabel in a minute..." the man declares. _'Scratch that! I need sticking up for! I need sticking up for!'_

"What! N-no!" I clutch my phone to my chest. _'I don't like NOT having my phone on me! It gives me anxiety!'_

"Macie." I don't want to know what happens if I don't do what the man I call Dad says, so I hand it over begrudgingly. Dipper sighs and goes in the house, coming back with his handheld and dragging Mabel by the collar, who is also holding her phone.

They each place their device in Dad's hand. "Now what?" Dipper asks as our father returns inside.

I glare at the two. "You two...urg! Look what your surprise did! Oh my gosh..." My shoulders start shaking up and down. I can't help it, what just happened over the last hour is just too much.

"Ma-Mace? You okay? Don't cry, we'll get our stuff back tomorrow." Mabel worryingly holds a hand out.

I throw my head back and laugh. I laugh so hard tears start flowing down my cheeks. The two look on with confused looks on their faces, and because of that, I laugh even harder.

"Macie?" I faintly hear Dipper's question through my loud laughter.

"I-I can't, this-this-this-this is too- hahahaha- much!" I wipe my eyes. "The way you two over-dramatically freaked out about dying by Flowey's pellets, to Mabel running away, screaming her lungs out! It's just too much!" I buckle over, gripping my ribs as they start to hurt.

"Oh thank goodness! I thought you were mad at me!" My brother wipes his sweaty forehead with a 'Phew!'.

"Mad? How could I be mad at you guys for making my day? Oh my gosh, I love you guys." They smile and give me a hug.

"Haha! We love you, too, Macie!" The female twin's grip tightens. _'Ack!'_

"Even if you do have collectible figures of our sworn enemy," Dipper says blandly. I punch him in the shoulder and he jostles back with a chuckle.

"Alright, alright...now what do we do? We have to stay outside all day...at least until dinner...I hope," I gulp.

"Oh, right, you don't remember." I tilt my head, so Mabel continues, "Whenever we got in trouble and had our stuff taken away, we'd always have to play and do stuff outside until dinner, so don't worry."

Placing a hand on my chest, I breathe a sigh of relief, "Oh thank goodness!"

"So what do you guys wanna do?" Dipper shoves his hands in his pockets.

"Any local parks around this here neighborhood?" I ask.

With a smirk, the twins nod once at the same time. "Just follow us!"

 _~~Present time~~_

As I sit on a swing at a nearby park, watching the twins go at it in a very serious game of tag, I think to myself about the day I had.

 _'Today started off with a bang, sure, and things went wrong, but overall, this has been an amazing day. I should get a diary and start writing down my thoughts at the end of every day...Good idea, Macie! Thanks, Macie! Yikes, I need to stop quoting Mabel!'_

 **Yes, they ended up going to the actual park in Piedmont where a portion of the #CipherHunt2016 took place.**

 **What do you guys think of the triplets going to the mall and Macie getting a diary to write in at the end of every chapter? Let me know what you want to see!**

 **I write down every suggestion I get, so if I end up doing them, I will credit you and thank you!**

 **Mabel chose light purple because that was the color Macie's ring glowed when she was REBORN~**


	4. Mall Rats

**September 6th 2012**

 **So, September 22nd in 2012 is a Saturday...so school will start the 24th on a MONDAY AND THAT'S FINAL! XD**

"Leave me aloooonnneee! It's still summer break!" I moan, rolling over in my bed and holding my covers over my head. _'I don't even know what's happening anymore...'_

"No Macie! You gotta get up! Mom said we're going to the mall today!" Mabel tries pulling off my soft, warm, protection with brute force and since she's terrifyingly strong, she rips them right off.

Instantly, chills go though my whole body as I shiver. "Really!?" I try to get the blanket back but she pulls them away.

"Nuh uh! You're getting up and you're gonna like it!" _'Did she actually throw the entire thing onto the floor?!'_ I sit up quickly, looking to our carpeted floor and seeing my poor comforter lying there in despair.

"Mabel!" I swing my legs over to pick it up, but she giggles and snatches it away before I can get a grip on it.

"Here, get dressed! Dipper's getting breakfast ready." The girl tosses me some clothes that look different to the ones I've been used to lately, so I inspect them one by one.

The clothes I got consist of a cute skirt, which I'm assuming is not mine..., and a frilly top. "Seriously?" I mumble quietly, but apparently Rabbit Ears over there heard me.

"Yes, seriously! Hah!" Mabel gives me a stern look before heading downstairs, "You better get dressed in what I got you, cuz' today's gonna be great!" Then she descends downstairs, leaving me alone and confused as I blink my eyes a couple times.

"Yeah yeah..." Rolling my eyes, I stand up and throw the shirt over my head. It's a plain white shirt, except it's got frills all over so it looks fancy. Then the skirt Mabel gave me is a plain orange, nothing special, it just looks like the skirts she wears. Tall white socks and some flats, in my size, so I own them, apparently, and a simple orange head band.

 _'Okay, this outfit is actually pretty darn endearing.'_ I pull up the skirt and then my socks, slipping on my shoes soon after. Finally, I put the headband on and gaze at myself in a nearby mirror.

 _'Heckin' cute!'_ I twirl once and then grab my trusty backpack, slinging it over my shoulder and rushing downstairs into the kitchen

"ADORABLE!" Mabel squeals from the kitchen table when I enter, kicking her legs wildly while shoveling some toast into her mouth.

"Mabel, please don't talk with your mouth full and you do look cute, Mace."

"Thanks," I blush at Dipper's compliment. "I was a little worried about showing my legs too much, but the socks cover almost up to my knees," I admit. "I kinda look like a fox!" Giggling, I twirl again.

"Yeah you do. How do you like your eggs? Well, I mean, you liked them scrambled back then but I'm not really sure now..." Dipper trails off, holding a pan in one hand and a spatula in the other.

"Scrambled," I answer quickly, then add, "I've always like scrambled."

Nodding, my brother goes back to work as I sit down. "So what's all this about, anyway?"

Mabel finishes a bite with a loud swallow and then smacks her lips, sipping some orange juice before speaking, "Mom said they gotta go to the store to get some things for fall starting, and she said she'd drop us off at the mall! We can show you around our hometown, doesn't that sound fun!?"

"Yeah, it does, how far is the mall?" I silently thank Dipper as he places down a plate of eggs and toast for me.

"The mall's called Stoneridge, it's over in Pleasanton , so it's a little ways, but you'll be fine, right?" Worry is evident in Dipper's eyes as he sits down with his own plate of food.

"I hope so... Where's Mom and Dad?" The question just comes out.

"Dad's at work and Mom's getting ready," Shooting Star practically throws her plate into the sink by how loud of a sound that erupted from it.

I pick at my ear for a moment while trying to scarf down my food. "Kay, let's go!" I stand up, not caring about my plate, as I stick a finger in the air.

Laughing, Mabel links her arms with mine and drags me out the front door. We ignore Dipper's groans of protest about us being so immature as I hear the clinking sound of glass being placed into the sink.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: What's your favorite store in your mall? Mine's Hot Topic!~~**

"Don't leave each other's sides and don't go anywhere alone, got it?" Our mom lectures us as we stand on the sidewalk. She leans out her driver's window as she speaks. "You guys get twenty dollars each. You can combine and do whatever, I'll be back in two hours, tops."

"Yes Mom..." we chorus at once.

"Love you guys!" She waves while driving off. Mabel eagerly waves back while I stand taken aback by the twenty dollar bill in my hand.

"What?" the male twin asks.

"I...I've never just gotten money to go spend by my parents before...this is awesome! I didn't even have to ask or beg! I just..." I jump in the air, "woo!"

Chuckling, Dipper pats my back, "Yeah, well, Mom always does this for us when she drops us somewhere."

Mabel butts in, "And, and! Last time she brought us along shopping, we irritated her so much, she put us in the children's area!"

"Don't they have an age limit?" I recall them having one.

"Yup! She had bags under her eyes as she begged and payed for the worker to put us in." I almost buckle over in laughter.

"Man, I wish I remembered!" Frowning, I think of all the possible good times I missed.

Sensing my discomfort, my brother consoles me with another pat, but this time, on the shoulder, "Aw it's okay, Macie, you'll have new memories! I'll make sure of it."

I smile and go to thank him when Mabel jumps me, literally. "Me too!"

"Ha, thanks guys..." I side hug them tightly. "Oh, thank you," I thank a woman who held the door open for us.

We get inside and it looks like a normal, average, your everyday mall from what I can tell. "Where to first? What kind of stores do they even have?"

"Fluff a Friend Factory!" Mabel throws her hands up with a smile.

Quirking an eyebrow, I lean forward a bit to take a glance at Dipper, who's on the other side of the jumping thirteen year old. "It's where you build an animal of your choice with stuffing and dress it up and whatnot," he explains.

In the middle of his explanation, I hold in my laughter best I could, but as soon as he stopped talking, I fall to the ground with laughter. "What's wrong, Macie?!" Mabel instantaneously kneels down and puts a hand on my shaking shoulder.

"It's just-it's just the name you used for the store you want to go to!" I cough out. "Fluff a Friend Factory?"

"Yeah?" Dipper doesn't seem to get what I'm getting at.

"It's my world's equivalent to Build a Bear Workshop!" The twin's mouths form an 'O' shape as they get what I'm saying, finally. "It's so funny, come on!" I don't understand why they're not laughing.

"Heh...haha?" Mabel shrugs. I throw my head back and groan, rolling my eyes and giving up, walking on ahead.

"Hey, wait up! What's wrong?" Dipper jogs up and stops me.

"You guys don't have a sense of humor, is all!" I try not to let this newfound anger feeling bubble up and escape me. "Yeah this is probably normal for you guys and everything...but to me? It's a bunch of spoofs of real life stores in my world with ridiculous but similar names."

"Oh, man, I-" Dipper looks back to our sister who is standing there looking guilty as well. "We're sorry, Macie. We should have thought about your feelings..."

"No, it's fine, you didn't know, let's just go." We trudge to our first stop, not speaking in the uncomfortable silence.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Have you gotten an animal from BBW? I got all of the dragons from HTTYD!~~**

The earlier mood returns as we enter Fluff a Friend Factory. Mabel runs in with glee, squealing and touching everything already as Dipper crosses his arm skeptically. "Mabes, don't you think you have enough stuffed animals?"

Gasping and stopping where she is, Mabel slaps a hand to her heart, "Dipper... You can never have enough stuffed animals!"

"But do you really want to spend your twenty dollars on yet another plush?" I ask what Dipper was thinking. _'Hah, he looks surprised that I can read his mind by now!'_

"Hmm...Maybe I'll just get some clothes, then... ***GASP*** Do you think some of these would fit Waddles?!"

A worker quickly comes over and shushes us. Dipper apologizes with a small smile, but when the worker leaves, he glares at the guilty teen. She mouths an apology. "I don't think so, they're too small," I observe the doll clothing. "Well," I say, "maybe a hat?"

"Yes!" The female twin runs off to the hat selection.

"So, where to after this?" I ask the boy beside me.

"Wherever I guess." He shrugs.

"Got a store to the equivalent of Hot Topic?" My hopes raise as Dipper ponders.

"Yeah- I mean, I don't know what Hot Topic is- but I can assume you're talking about Uncomfortably Warm Subject?"

"Pffffffttttt!" I accidentally spit in the boy's face, but I don't notice as I'm too busy busting a gut. "Oh, man," I sling my bag around and go digging inside it. "I need me some food." I pull out an emergency granola bar. I open it and take a bite, only now seeing Dipper's questioning face. "My blood sugar's low," is all I say as he puts his hands up defensively with a chuckle.

"Kay, let's go!" I startle, spitting out a piece of granola, when Mabel jumps in front of me, holding a hat in my face. _'It's a cute sun hat. Big, too, so for Waddles, I'm going to assume.'_

"Mace?" The twins are gone. I turn around hastily and see Mabel up ahead skipping, swinging her purchase around happily. Dipper's standing at the entrance of the store, looking at me worriedly. "You comin'?"

"Y-yeah..." I hold my head, feeling a headache coming on.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Headaches...I can't even with them...So I am at odds!~~**

We pass Edgy on Purpose. _'I thought Edgy on Purpose was Hot Topic...I guess it's...Spencer's maybe? Yeah, I'm gonna go with that.'_ "Wait up, can I go in here?" The twins stop and turn around.

"Uhhh, isn't that store inappropriate?" Dipper asks shyly.

I stop. _'I didn't really think of that with these guys...'_ "Well...yeah-but only if you go in the very back of the store!" I add quickly.

"I dunno, Macie. I know you're sixteen and all, but I don't think Mom would want you in there..." Sighing, I agree with my brother.

"You're right, Dip', let's go to Hot Topic." Giggling, Mabel leads the way.

"To Uncomfortably Warm Subject!" she battle cries, gaining unwanted attention from mall-goers.

Instead of being embarrassed because of my sister, like _someone_ is being, I embrace her personality and join her. "Woo!" I shout with a fist thrown in the air. Her braces gleam in the light when she grins.

I hear a hand come into contact with a face. Turning around, I see that Dipper has face palmed.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Shameless promoting: Check out my Soul Eater fanfic! #ShamelessPromotingIsShameless~~**

Forty five minutes later, the twins are hounding me to get out of the store. _'I take a long time in Hot Topic...don't judge!'_

"Macieeeeeee, we've been in here foreverrrrrr," Mabel moans, hanging off my sleeve as I check out the new Funko Pops.

"Mabel! Go wait outside with Dipper!" I tell her, pushing the girl off.

"Dipper went outside?! We're not supposed to leave each other's side! I'll be right back!" Mabel starts booking it to the front of the store, screaming, "DIPPPERR!"

Two minutes later, my sister comes up to me dragging our brother by the vest he's always wearing. His arms are crossed and he's got a scowl on his lips. They seem to be having an intense, silent, staring contest going on, so I ignore them and go back to my shopping.

Something shines in the corner of my eye. I feel like it's drawing me in. I go over to whatever is shining and pick it up. It's a journal with a padlock. Nothing looks too special about it. It's a pure light purple cover with the silver lock. It also comes with a necklace with the key on it.

"What do you guys think of this?" I turn and ask the bickering siblings. They freeze in a hilarious position. Mabel's fist is up in the air like she's gonna punch the boy as she holds Dipper's collar. The boy has a hand up in defense, his wide eyes staring at me with desperation.

"Mabel," I sigh, putting a hand to my forehead, "put the poor boy down." She does so, but since they were in a certain position, Dipper tumbles to the floor roughly.

"Owww..." he groans, sitting up with a pout.

"Guys! Look, I really like this and I have an awesome idea to do with it!" I excitedly show them the journal.

"Nice! Oooooh are you gonna write down your thoughts like a diary!?" Mabel asks. _'Some mischief is gleaming in her eyes and it's making me super nervous...'_

"No! It's a journal! And I'll write whatever I feel like!" I hold the book close to me.

"Alright, alright, go pay. Mom'll be here soon," Dipper glances down at the watch on his wrist. _'I could have sworn he didn't come in with one.'_

I pay and we head out.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Time Skips, they're hard to think of so don't judge me!~~**

When we get home, it's already pretty late, so Mom sends us straight to bed.

As Mabel lightly snores, hugging Waddles, who has his new hat on, I sit at my computer desk, working.

Yawning after a while, I take a look at my craftsmanship. My new journal, while nothing has been written in it, now has a big, silver ring on the front, donning the familiar Kanji symbols that say,

REBORN.

 **Macie will start using the journal from now on...I just really liked the idea of having her zodiac on the cover, like Ford's and whatever! I actually want one just like it...**

 **Does anyone think they can draw Macie in the outfit I described for me? Private message me and we can talk more! Thanks!**


	5. Schedules and Supplies

**AMAZING FAN ART ALERT! Check out my Deviant Art page for a few drawings I got by you wonderful people! Thank you: PacificDraws, DragonRyd3r and Hourglasscipher. I love them!**

 **Username: HowToLoveADragon**

 **September 10th 2012**

"You sure you know what you're doing?" I ask my brother with amusement.

Without taking his eyes off my laptop, Dipper replies sternly, "Yes."

"Ooookaaaayy~" I sing-song and step out of my room.

Right now Dipper is playing some more Undertale on my laptop. Mabel's downstairs working on her scrapbook and I'm just wandering around, bored. _'I guess I can go on my computer...'_

I stop on the stairs and spin to make my way back up, when a voice stops me. "Macie, Dipper, can you come here for a minute?" _'It's dad!'_

Before I can even move, I hear the click of my laptop lid closing and the shutting of a door. Dipper runs past me, but not with fear or anything, but with excitement and giddiness.

Blinking, I go into the kitchen where our parents are standing against the counter, the twins are in their seats as well. All eyes are on me as I walk in and take my seat, which I do not like at all.

"Kids," Mom starts, putting her hands together, "we just got your school schedules!" As if on cue, which it probably was, Dad pulls a few pages of paper out from behind him.

"Yes, I knew it! What do I got?!" Dipper reaches desperately for his schedule. I look on with utter confusion, while Mabel seems neutral.

Smiling, Dad hands us each our schedules. Before I scan it, I ask, "What grade are we going in again?" Mabel covers her lips as she horribly stifles a snort. The adults in front of us look at me in confusion.

"Uh- Macie! Hah, so funny!" Dipper starts laughing horribly awkwardly, patting my shoulder. Seeing my genuine gaze, I think he realized that I'm not kidding about my question. "She's- she's joking, obviously!" He smiles to our parents, then emphasizes, "She knows we're going into the eighth grade, right, Macie?"

"R-right, sorry, I was trying to make a joke..." I put my head down, but raise it when Mom and Dad start chuckling.

"Mace, you're such a kidder." Mom shakes her head. I fake a grin.

"Anyway, those are your schedules for this year. If you want to change some classes you'd have to talk to the principal. Or we do...?" Mom looks to Dad.

"Yeah, just tell us and we'll get it situated for you three," he says, crossing his arms with a smile.

"Thanks Dad! Let's go, guys!" Mabel quickly drags me and Dipper away.

After we get upstairs, into my room, and Mabel shuts the door, we sit on the floor in a circle and lay our papers down. "Macie, how long were you in school?" Dipper asks.

I scoff, "Wait, you think I'm graduated? I said I was sixteen, not eighteen! I was in tenth grade, thank you very much."

"Right. Sorry." An awkward silence ensues until the boy coughs into his fist. "Anyway, I've always had mostly advanced classes, so I don't know if I'll be in the same class as you two."

"Wait, what? No, I don't want to go at all if I'm not in the same classes!" I exclaim in genuine fear. "I was home schooled since fifth grade. I can't just go back to middle school!"

"Mace, calm down! You'll be in some classes with me, I know it!" Mabel tries at reassuring me. _'It's not helping as much as I wish it would!'_

"Yeah, Macie, let's see here." Dipper picks up my piece of paper, his eyes going back and forth while reading. Then, grabbing Mabel's page, he compares. "Okay, says here you guys have all of the same classes!" I release a humongous sigh of relief, falling back onto the carpeted floor.

"Yaaaay! What classes do we have?" Mabel asks the question I was thinking.

"Uh..." I sit back up. "Art, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, P.E," Dipper lists them all off.

"Do you have any with us?" I ask.

"Yeah, I got P.E and Language Arts plus lunch, but everyone has that together... Oh, yes!" Dipper suddenly bursts with extra excitement.

I lean over to peer at his paper with a huff, "What?"

"I got in the advanced courses! Advanced Math and Science!" No one says anything. "Oh come on, guys! This is a big deal! Mabel, you know how hard I worked last year to get into them!"

"He's right." Mabel jabs a thumb to him, but looking at me. "He did work really hard. But hey, at least we got in the same classes!"

"Yeah..." Something catches my eye. "Wait a minute..." I pick up Mabel's schedule. "Dude! This says Mabel has Health Science, not Science!" I throw the page down in defeat.

Looking like he got caught, which he most definitely did, Dipper avoids eye contact and rubs the nape of his neck. "Uhhhh...Sorry?"

"Sorry? So you knew?" He nods. "Unbelievable. Why would you make me think we got all the same classes?" Mabel nods, glaring at our brother with me.

"I just- I didn't want you to get upset!" he defends quickly.

"Well, too late! I'm already upset! Wanna tell me why you didn't want to tell me?"

"Well- it's...if you knew you would have switched classes! And I didn't want that to happen, because in Health Science, Aliya's in that class!"

Mabel gasps dramatically.

"Wait, what!?" I shake my head with anger and confusion.

"Well, ever since first grade, Aliya's practically been your enemy," Mabel says. "She was super nice with me and everything but whenever I wanted to do something with you, she'd get super mean! So I cut her off and now she hates you even more."

"Aliya? Okay, this sounds exactly like my old life." _'A girl named Aliya hated me in first grade because I hung out with MY best friend all the time when_ _ **she**_ _wanted to.'_

"Really? Like the name and everything?!" Dipper asks incredulously.

"Yup. The name. The grade. The reason. UGH! Why me!?" I fall back again. Mabel crawls over and pats my stomach reassuringly. "Thanks for trying to protect me, Dipper..."

"Well of course! I hate her, too!" Clenching his fist, Dipper looks to be thinking of something...devious? ***Shivers***

"Ugh, so that means I'm gonna have to be in the same class!" Flopping onto the floor right next to me, Mabel groans.

"Unfortunately. But don't worry, we'll deal with her. We've always dealt with her. Together." I sit up, Mabel does as well, grinning, and we all fist bump together.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: "Ready to head into the unknown?"**

 **"Nope. Let's do it"~~**

"Do we have tooooooooo?" Mabel whines from the house all the way to the store. _'Girl got lungs of steel!'_

"Mabel! It's important to get the right supplies for the new school year. Macie, help me out, yeah?" I sit on the right side of the car, staring out the window, that is until my name was said, so I look to the boy in the middle seat.

Glancing at the driver, our dad, I cover my mouth and speak in a hushed tone, "My dad was a teacher, so we had an enormous surplus of school supplies, so I never really had to do any shopping. Not to mention I was home schooled since fifth grade!"

"Well...that wasn't the help I was expecting..." Mabel blows a raspberry into the male's face, who then splutters and hastily wipes his features with his bare arm, "Agh, Mabel! Stop!"

"Haha," I return to staring out the window.

We pull up to Workplace Warehouse. _'Office...Depot...?'_ Getting out of the car, I fix my shirt and sling my bag on my shoulder. "Alright, kids," Dad speaks once we enter the building. "Go gather all the necessary supplies you need this year. I'm gonna go get what _I_ need." Nodding, we head off the other direction together.

"Think the'll have any puffy stickers I can trade around for this time around?!" Mabel gushes all about her sticker collection.

"They didn't last year, they won't this year." Dipper's smirk falls instantly when Mabel jumps in the air, puts her hand on her cheek and yells.

"OMG PUFFY STICKERS!" running over and grabbing a bunch of packages. The male triplet throw his arms up, scoffing.

"I don't believe it..."

I chuckle and smack him. "Oh believe it, bro."

"Guys, guys! Look at all these puffy stickers!" Our over-hyper sister ecstatically shoves plastic packages of adhesive abominations into both of our faces.

"Mabel!" Dipper shoves them away, then turns to me. "Macie, you know what you gotta get, right?" I shake my head no and he sighs, "Here," Dipper hands me a paper, "this has a list of everything you need. Go with Mabel to make sure she gets them, too."

"Kay." I grab Mabel's hand and drag her away.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: If you were a school supply what would you be? I'd be paper because people just use me and throw me away :D~~**

I had to go back to the front of the store to grab a basket to carry all of these supplies and by the time we're done, it's overflowing with stickers! Not to mention the smelly markers, cutesy erasers; basically school stuff that you don't necessarily need.

"Mabel, little help..!" I struggle to keep the basket in my arms. _'Why is this so heavy!?'_

"Oooh!" I peer behind me and see my sister gushing about something else.

"MABEL!" She startles, forms an 'O' shape with her lips and then smiles, skipping up to me and lifting the basket. I thought she was gonna take the entire thing but all she did was elevate it into my arms better and then leave me again. "Seriously!?"

 _'I pity Dipper if this is what he had to go through...'_

"Hey, you done?" A new voice joins.

"Oh thank goodness!" I breathe, throwing the basket to the ground. Dipper winces from the loud effect. "Please, please stop her!" I beg. He looks behind me and chuckles.

"Alright, alright... Dad's up front, take what you got up there and he'll finish checking out."

"Oh?" I tilt my head, bending down and opting to pick up this stupid thing again, myself. "You're already done?"

"Yeah. Dad, too. Just waiting on you both." After that, Dipper leaves me to my struggles. And boy did I struggle! Half way to the registers, I realize I could just drag the darn basket!

After doing so, Dad grabs the handle and picks it up with ease. _'The chicken is NOT amused...'_

"Daaaaaaaaaaad!" Mabel comes running up and into the large man's legs, startling us both.

"Mabel! Quiet, this is a store!" he scolds, patting her head as she looks up to him. Dipper walks up behind me, a scowl on his face as he avoids eye contact.

"Dad, Dipper won't let me add anymore stuff to the basket!" I see Dipper roll his eyes at Mabel's whines.

Sighing, Dad looks to Dipper, who then gives a strict shake of the head, so he says, "Honey, you've already got so much." She starts tearing up.

"Boi..." I mumble under my breath.

"Tell you what, if you run out of everything, I'll get you more, kay?" he compromises with the little bugger I call a triplet.

"Okay, thanks Dad!" Giggling because she won, Mabel shoots off with the keys, presumably to the car.

"That girl..." Dad sighs, shaking his head and going to pay. "You two, go with her would ya?" Nodding, Dipper and I take off together.

"Welp, that was a waste of my day." I lean back into the leather car seat after we get in.

"What? Nuh uh! It was awesome!" Mabel retorts with stars in her eyes.

"Waste of _my_ day, Mabel. Not a waste of your day." I roll my eyes.

"It's okay, we won't have to do this again!" Dipper successfully cheers me up a bit. Well he did, until he opened his mouth again, "Well at least not until next year..." I slam a fist on his thigh roughly. "Ow!" he whines, rubbing his bruised leg.

"Ready, kids?" We instantly freeze in place when Dad opens his door and gets in. _'Aye, aye, Captain!'_ (Sorry, couldn't be helped.)

"Yup!" Mabel smiles and says.

"Sorta..." Dipper wheezes in pain. In the rear-view mirror, Dad quirks an eyebrow back at us.

"Ignore him..." I wave him off and he shrugs, starting the car.

 **~~Time Skip~~**

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _9-10-12_

 _Today we got our school schedule. I learned that I have an enemy by the same name from when I was in first grade... Great. I'm really not looking forward to going to public school...or school in general. I'm gonna have to redo the 8th grade! We also went school shopping in this world's equivalence to Office Depot. Mabel was a handful to deal with, though. Oh well. When you're a triplet with these twins, you're in for a ride!_

 _Macie Pines~~_

 **I have been so FREAKING busy lately it's not funny ;;**

 **But I don't have a schedule for this story so updates will be whenever.**

 **Does anybody get the 'The chicken is NOT amused.' reference?**

 **Not much going on here, so shorter chapter. It took a while to make it at least 2000 words DX**

 **Oh I love all of your suggestions! But a lot of them are scheduled for later in the season, like the Halloween one. You guys got anything that could be in the next couple weeks before school starts or anything? THANKS!**


	6. The Day Before Tomorrow

**September 23rd 2012**

"Come on, Macie!" Groaning, I pull my blankets over my face and turn over in bed.

"Mabel, go awaaaaayyy!" The tugging on the blankets stop.

"Why don't you wanna get up!" I can already see Mabel's pout.

"Because, it's the last day before school and I wanna lay here 'til I die!"

"Well I think it's an opportunity to finish summer off with a bang!" _'OH GOSH!'_ My sister practically rips off my entire bed, flinging everything to the other side of the room. "Now, let's get you up and running so we can have some fun!"

"Ugh..." _'Fall starts tomorrow, so it's still summer and now I have no way out of this.'_ Bending down, I reach for my laptop, but when I see that it's gone, I just about have a heart attack. "Mabel, where's my laptop?"

"Dipper's playing on it," she says blankly. I get out of bed and quickly throw on some clothes.

Without saying anything else, I grab my phone, put it in my back jeans pocket, and march out of my room straight to Dipper's, where I throw open his door and almost burst out laughing at the startled, girly, high pitched scream he cries.

"Macie!?" he squeaks, breathing heavily and his hand on his heart.

"What the HECK do you think you're doing on my laptop at..." I check my phone, "nine forty-seven in the morning?" With the way I emphasized 'HECK' and the way Dipper is looking utterly terrified, I think he might have thought I was gonna say something else... "Dude, I may be sixteen, but that doesn't mean I cuss all the time!"

"Wha-? I-I-I- no! Haha, I didn't think you were gonna...you know... Hey! I beat the game!" Awkwardly changing the subject, the boy turns my laptop around so I can see it. _'Oh? He beat Undertale!'_

"Wow, took you long enough..." I grin, leaning on my weight. He blushes and spins the computer back to him.

"Shut up..." he mumbles as I go sit by him.

"Guyssss!" Mabel bursts in, looking annoyed. Without knowing, my male twin and I quirk the same eyebrow at the same time. Seeing that we aren't going to say anything, Mabel continues, "I have all these plans for today because it's the last day of summer! I need both of my twins to do it! You can't just play video games all day!"

We stare at her for a while until looking back to the game. "So, what route did you choose?" I ask. In my peripheral vision, I can see Mabel get taken aback and sighing dejectedly.

"Well, after the Flowey mishap- and I restarted the game- I decided to not trust anyone. You know what the Author says, 'Trust no one!'" Dipper chuckles at the quote. I look on boredly, so he clears his throat and continues. "Anyway, I just killed everybody."

"Wha- dude! You just went and committed genocide?!" he shrugs and nods. "Oh my gosh, Dipper, I didn't take you as the killer type..."

"Uh, guys!?" Mabel interrupts. Shutting up, we stare at the female. "Come on! I got plans and we gotta get 'em done!" She spins her hand around.

"Fine, fine, we're coming." Dipper rolls his eyes as he gets up.

After Mabel leaves, I ask, "So, what I'm wondering is how you dealt with Mabel when you were twins all your life."

Dipper uncharacteristically starts busting a gut. "That's a good one, Mace. Very cute. But, I wouldn't know, because my whole life I've been a triplet. Now come on." He shuts my laptop and exits his room.

I stand there with the stupidest grin on my face.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Skype: We'll need a different name for it if we want to chat with the Stan twins! Any ideas?~~**

When we reach the living room, Mabel is quivering with excitement as she shows us what she set up. "I thought you didn't want to be in all day?" I ask, eyeing the movies on the ground.

"Well, I don't want you two playing video games! But movies are okay if we watch them together! IN A PILLOW FORT!" I take a step back as she runs and jumps on the couch.

"Mabel!" Dipper scolds, stopping her in her position, "We do not want to watch your Dream Boy High movies all day." He crosses his arms.

"Mace?" Mabel looks to me with hopeful eyes. _'I am not backing her up on this one!'_

"Sorry, Mabes. I'm with Dippin' Dots on this one."

"Oh phooey..." she pouts for the second time today. "Well, good thing I got other plans!" She smiles, then frowns, picking at her braces for a second before going back to grinning.

 _'Here it comes...'_ I ready myself for what's going to come.

"We go to the park and play our favorite game!" she announces. To the right of me, I think I can see Dipper's mouth twitch upwards a bit.

"Uh, what's our favorite game?" I ask.

"I'm glad you asked, my dear sister!" The girl stands in a weird position and points her finger outward. "It's a little game we like to call... Triplet Tag!" She jumps in the air with her legs bending up. _'Whoa!'_

"Tag? I love tag! I used to play it in elementary school! Sometimes we'd get half the kids to be in on it!" I recall the memory.

"That's great! But this tag is special for us triplets!" I crinkle my nose, confused. "Well," Mabel starts, "this game is where we only play with each other and whoever loses, has to do whatever the winners want!"

"Wait, what!? No! That's like a wager. What kind of game is that?" Dipper smiles mischievously.

"Oh come on, Macie, we've always played it this way." I shake my head.

"No. No way am I..." I stop and think. _'What am I thinking? I was really good at tag. I still should be, right? Oh yes, I am gonna win this!'_ "You guys are on!"

The two smile widely and link arms, leading the way.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Pillow fort wars!~~**

"Kay, who's it?" We stand in a circle at the park.

"Before starting, I'm going to set a timer." Dipper pulls out his phone and sets a timer for 20 minutes. "Whoever's it when the clock goes off, loses." I nod, understanding the rules.

"Nose goes!" both shout at the same time. Panicking, I throw my finger and touch my nose.

"Ha! You're it!" Mabel cries, then runs away. Dipper sprints away, too.

"Oh come on!" I throw my head back, groan, grin, and bound after my siblings.

I breathe heavily as I traverse around the playground. _'Those little-! I don't know this structure as much as they do!'_

I catch sight of bright turquoise. _'Bingo!'_

I turn the corner, thinking I got the jump on my sister, but it's just her headband. "Dangit!" I pick up the band. "She's good..." I continue breathing heavily.

 _'Huh?'_ I spin around and see a pair of eyes go wide and back behind the wall they peered over. _'Gotcha, Dipper...'_ Picking up speed, I round the corner to surprise him.

Only to find that he's not here. _'Ok, this is getting annoying...'_ My chest heaves up and down as my lungs start burning from lack of oxygen intake.

"Guys?" I shout as much as I could. "Come on, this isn't fair!" I climb up the stairs of one of the play structures and reach the top, scoping for any triplets. Sluggishly, I grab onto a nearby fireman pole to slide down, but I lose my grip. "GAH!" I fall onto the ground.

Groaning, I give up and lie there, accepting defeat. "Mace?" I hear a voice get closer and closer. "Macie, you okay? I heard a thud." Someone's right above me by now.

"Mmrrmmrm," I mumble incoherently.

"Oh geez, Mace, what'd you do?" Dipper asks, lifting me from under my arms up to my feet.

"Fell. Off. The. Pole. What does it like what happened!?" I trudge over to a bench I set my stuff down on. Opening my bag, I pull out my trusty inhaler.

"Yikes, we're sorry, Mace, we shouldn't have gone so hard on you." Dipper looks away sheepishly with his hands in his shorts pockets.

"Ya think?" I breathe in three puffs for good measure.

"Dipper? What are you doing? Did the timer stop?" Looking up, or in Dipper's case, behind, we see Mabel on the tip of a structure, calling out with her hands cupped around her lips.

"Uh." The male looks to me with a questioning gaze. I look down to the timer and see that there's still 8 minutes left. Sighing, I stop it and nod. "Yeah, yeah, It's over. We won!" he shouts back.

"Whoopee!" Mabel celebrates.

I didn't see what happened, but Dipper did. He cried "MABEL!" and rushed over to her. My head shoots up at the distress and see my sister on the wood-chipped ground, holding her knee.

Blood is visible. "Oh gosh," I whisper and stand up, jogging over to the boy and girl as fast as I can. "What happened?" I take out my back pack and kneel on the ground.

"I-I was happy that we won...and-and fell off," Mabel sniffs.

"Alright, lemme get a look at your knee," Dipper slowly moves her hand off her limb. She winces as I recoil at the sight.

A big gash is obviously present. "I don't think a bandage is going to work for this one..." I anxiously put back the small blue package of bandages back into my bag.

"Macie, you got water, right?" Dipper asks.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Here." I hand him my half gone bottle of water. He twists off the cap and pours it all over Mabel's injury.

"Ahh!" Mabel shuts her eyes. "It stings!"

"I know. I gotta clean it, though, so it won't get infected," Dipper explains. I rub the girl's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"This is _not_ how I wanted to spend the last day of summer..." Mabel's voice cracks. I frown deeply.

"Kay, let's get you home." Dipper stands up and we both help Mabel to stand on her feet.

Slowly but surely, we make our way home with the limping girl on our shoulders.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: A change of plans! I was gonna have Macie have an asthma attack but decided against it because I've never actually had one~~**

"Hey kids, how was the park?" Right as we get in the door, our mom voices her question. Before we can speak up, she turns around from the kitchen and smiles at us...until she sees her daughter is injured. She gasps and comes running over immediately with a rag, kneeling down to our height. "Mabel, honey, what happened?"

Dipper answers for her, "She fell off the play structure. Hit her knee pretty hard."

Mom tsks, looking at the damage before getting back up. "You two, finish dinner," she points to me and my male twin, "Mabel, dear, come with me." Mabel follows suit with the adult while Dipper goes to the kitchen.

I follow and ask, "Wait, finish dinner? I don't know how to make..." I stop and check the food, "I don't know how to make beef stroganof."

"You never made dinner back home?" Dipper asks, stirring what looks like gravy. _'Smells good!'_

"No, not really. I can make...pancakes...and maybe macaroni and cheese." I swivel my hand side to side with uncertainty.

"Well, whenever Mom needed us to finish dinner, for whatever reason, we'd all work together." I smile at the boy.

"That sounds nice." He smiles back, but recoils his finger as a spew of gravy got on it.

He sucks on it for a minute before going to stir again. I quickly grab the wooden spoon out of his hand. "Wha- Macie?"

"You just sucked on your finger! Go wash your hands!" I scold, pointing to the sink.

"What about you?" he whines, but does what I say.

"I used hand sanitizer from my backpack earlier." He looks unconvinced, but if I were to tell you I washed my hands, then I _washed_ my hands.

"Alright, alright..." Dipper gives up, walking over to the stove and taking the pot of gravy off. "Looks like it's done."

"Good, I'm starving." I start setting the table with plates, forks, napkins, and a container of, what I hope is, Kool-Aid. "What juice is in here?"

"Chill-Aid, but we're not allowed to have it for dinner. Chocolate milk should be in the door. Or orange juice, but, you've never liked fruit."

I roll my eyes, "Yup, hate all fruits. And, what the heck? No juice with dinner? This is like when I was younger! I had to have chocolate milk with supper all the time. When me and my siblings got older, though, we could have whatever."

"Well, maybe that'll happen for us," Dipper says hopefully, placing trivets on the dinner table.

"Heya, squirts, where's your mother?" I startle by the new voice that has entered. Dad stands there with his hands on his hips and a smile, smelling the air.

"Washing Mabel up," I answer and when he frowns, I continue, "Mabel tripped and fell at the park. Hurt her knee pretty bad."

Sighing, Dad finishes putting the food on the table. "Well, I hope she's okay. You three are always getting into trouble, you know that?"

"Heh, yeah, we know," Dipper says quickly, before I could get another word in. ' _What, did he think I was gonna say something stupid?'_

"Dad!" Mabel bursts into a visibly painful sprint, jumping into Dad's arms, giggling.

"Hey! There's my big girl! How's your knee?"

"Better! Mom made it all good!" Said mom comes in, putting a rag in the sink and sitting down.

"Mabel, sit," our mother nicely commands the silly girl, to which she obeys.

 _'Smells so good!'_

I dig in right away.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Bedtimes: Mine is 9:30. What's yours? (If you have one!)~~**

"Are you kids all ready for tomorrow?" Mom is leaning on the doorway of our room.

"Yup!" Mabel cries, putting her things into her backpack.

I groan, placing a composition notebook into my bag. "Macie, it'll be fine, you got your siblings there with you." Mom tries to help, but this isn't what my despair is about.

 _'I have to redo 8th grade...and 9th! It's gonna be terrible! Not to mention I haven't been to public school since 4th grade!'_

"Yeah, don't worry, Mace, we'll be right there with you." I turn my head and see Dipper peaking through the doorway, smiling. I smile back.

"I know," I sigh, zipping my bag.

"Alright you three, get to bed. You've got a big day tomorrow so you need sleep." Mabel giggles and follows the adult's orders, jumping into bed and hugging onto her stuffed animals tightly.

I crawl into mine soon after Dipper and Mom leave.

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _9-21-12_

 _Tomorrow is the first day of school. I wonder how it's going to go? Will I even be popular? Do I have friends? I want my old friends back..._

 _Here we go..._

 _Macie Pines~~_

 **'Here we go' is the line who says and when?**


	7. Education Can Be Hard

**Kudos to Bedrock Armor and Angelwings2002 for figuring out where 'Here we go...' comes from! Stan says it at the end of Gideon Rises.**

 **Bedrock Armor, I can't believe I am that stupid DX Last chapter was the 21st and in that chapter, school started the next day... which would be Saturday the 22nd...Brb, I gotta go change it! Also, I really like your FaceTime name idea! And since FaceTime and Skype are different things, I'll be sure to use your 'HeadChat' sometime!**

 **Ok, now that that's done... I welcome you to the first day of the school year!**

 **September 24th 2012**

Backpack? Check. Lunch? Nah, I'm trying the cafeteria. Phone? Most definitely. Triplets? Eh, they're around here somewhere I'm sure. Sleep? Not really.

I feel like drowsing back to sleep while I lean my head on the window of the school bus. Dipper pats my shoulder. At least, I hope it's Dipper, because Mabel is in the back catching up with some friends and I honestly don't know where that boy went. I sneak a peak. _'Thank goodness...'_ I see that it's only my dorky brother.

"Mace, you okay? Did you get _any_ sleep?"

"Not really," I reply in a British accent, because why not?

"Geez..." I hear him sigh and brush what little hair is in my eyes. Opening them fully, I sit up and take in what's happening. There's a lot of kids currently on the bus, so that's great. _'Notice my sarcasm...'_

It's loud, too. What, with these girls screeching about make up or the boys raging on some new video game. _'What's with all the stereotypes?'_

Then there's the usual 'cool' kid per bus. Cussing here and there. _'Guess this isn't much different than real world school...'_ At least that part makes me feel a little better. Just a little.

"What? Thought I could sleep? Pfft, my anxiety levels are through the roof as it is!" I throw my hands in the air for emphasis. "Dipper." I get serious, "I haven't been to public school since fourth grade. That's not including the three days I actually went to eighth grade. Yes," I roll my eyes at the look he's giving me, "I went to middle school for three days before going back to online."

"Well..." The male sounds like he's at a loss of what to say, but scrounges something, "That's okay! You might not remember us going to school, but it'll be okay! We'll be here with you along the way," he reassures me. but I don't feel reassured.

"Really? Cuz' Mabel is all the way in the back right now." I jab behind our seat. Dipper winces and face palms.

"Okay, well, when we get to school, I'll make sure Mabel stays with ya. Plus, she'll want to, anyways." I accept his surety with a smile. He takes it and goes back to a hand held game he brought with him. _'The one we saw in the beginning of the show? I'm gonna go with that...'_

The large yellow vehicle finally comes to an agonizing stop that I've been dreading for the entire way here. Kids start piling up as the front doors aren't even open yet and when they do, the bus is empty in a minute flat. _'People were usually too freaking slow when_ _ **I**_ _went to school...'_

The awkward, no longer a pre-teen, sweaty kid I call my brother starts pulling on my arm. I resist as much as I can. "Come on, Macie!" he groans, tugging with all his might.

I moan, leaning back into the cushioned seat some more. "Hey guys!" Mabel's cheery voice interrupts our tug-of-war. Tsking, Mabel pouts, "Macie... Come on, it'll be fine! I'm with ya!"

Dipper gives me an 'I told you so' smirk. I roll my eyes, stand up, sling my bag over my shoulder and motion for them to move.

Stepping off the bus, I get a nice breeze of fresh, crisp, morning, September air.

"Kay, I got advance math right away, so I'll..." trailing off, Dipper pulls up his schedule, "see you both at art! Good luck!" He waves with the paper still in his hand. It flies out of it and by the time I follow it in the wind, it's long gone. He blushes and blends into the crowd of students dissipating into the building.

"We have..." I check my own piece of paper, "social studies." I mock gag as Mabel chuckles.

"Mabel! You coming?" A girl's shrill voice calls from up ahead. Both of our heads turn to it simultaneously. The girl stands pretty tall, about the size of Mabel or a bit taller, with medium length brown hair. She waves with excitement in her eyes. "Macie! What's up?"

 _'Wait what? Why did she address me? Isn't she Mabel's friend?!'_

Mabel elbows me and gets my attention. "That's Kinsey, we met her last year. You two don't really click, but she tries her hardest."

"Oh," I say lamely. _'What the heck do I say? Keep being myself or re-introduce myself completely?'_ I can't ask my sister because she's already up the stairs. At least it's not the staircase up to Shibusen, or Death Weapon Meister Academy. I shiver at the thought of climbing those.

Or maybe it was just the wind.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Classes: Has anyone actually fell asleep during class? I haven't but I've seen someone do it!~~**

"So what did you guys do over summer?" That girl- Kinsey- asks as we sit down at a seat. Mabel takes out all of her things, (stickers, googly eyes? and what not) while I just set my stuff down, feeling awkward already.

I avoid eye contact while listening to Mabel groan with uncertainty. "Fishing," I blurt, surprising Kinsey, Mabel and even myself. "We did lots of fishing at the Gravity Falls lake. Very boring. Probably don't want details." At that, Kinsey shuts up.

A middle aged man walks in wearing a brown suit and tie. He's even carrying a briefcase. Immiedietly, he places down his case and picks up a piece of chalk, writing on the board while speaking. "My name is Fred Abberline but you may call me Mr. Abberline."

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Social Studies: Teaching you about the past since...the past!~~**

"Well...that was a total waste of forty-five minutes of my time." Mabel and I walk down the long hallway to our new lockers for the year. Thank THOR we're sharing one.

"Aw come on! It wasn't that bad!" Mabel tries to liven the mood while skipping down the tiled floor.

"Wasn't that bad? My leg fell asleep because we sat there and did nothing for so long!" I whine, wiggling my leg out. Doing so, I end up hitting someone else's shin.

"Hey! What was that for!?" A kid, maybe 7th grade, glares at me.

"S-sorry," I stammer, trying my best at avoiding eye contact. Walking at a faster pace, so he doesn't say anything else to me, I see that he watches me the whole way until I round the corner to my locker.

"Hey, what happened? Got lost in the herd?" Mabel asks with a jaunty laugh.

"Kinda," I mumble, pulling my bag over my shoulder to get my stuff out. Without saying anything else, Mabel opens our locker with a concerned look directed to me. I shrug, silently telling her not to worry about it.

"Hey guys. Better hurry to your next class, the warning bell is going to ring any minute now." Dipper's voice startles me out of my thinking. I turn around and see him walking up, waving a little wave. Mabel and I wave back, but she has more oomf in it.

"Yup! Let's go, Macie! You, too, Dip. Don't wanna be late for those nerd classes of yours, now do you?" Mabel sticks her tongue out and leaves an abashed brother to stand in the hallway. I give him a look of pity and follow my sister.

I have to jog to catch up to the girl, she's walking so fast! "This is where we part. I gotta go to math while you got science. Don't worry, I'll meet right back up with you right after class!" Nodding, she leaves as I approach room I-don't-really-give-a-crap-about-the-number right as the bell rings, successfully making me shiver.

A nice woman stands at the desk with a smile, looking laid-back. She's got bleach blond, short and kinda messy looking hair. "Please, take a seat." She gestures to a few empty seats. Unfortunately, the only one left is in the front. A girl Mabel's been telling me about waves, so I wave back, albeit awkwardly, but it seems to have made her happy.

 _'Girl named Carly or something like that...'_ I don't pay much attention to her as my brain starts speaking for itself. "Where do I take it to?" I stop dead in my tracks, completely embarrassed that I just said that out loud.

"That's a good one," the teacher laughs, "But we do need to get started. As much as I'd like to tell jokes all day, we got some science to do." She stands up straight and clicks her heels together. "First thing's first! My name is Liv Moore, but because of school regulation and what not, you gotta call me, Ms. Moore."

 _'She seems pretty cool!'_

"Now, who wants to blow some stuff up?" That quickly perked all the students right up. Literally. Almost everyone stood up or jumped in their seats at the offer. Our teacher calms them down and then smiles michivously.

 _'This should be good!'_

 **~~Time Skip Brought to you by: Olivia Moore: #1 Zombie~~**

"That sounds _so_ cool!" I laugh at Mabel's enjoyment of what I've told her of science class.

"Yeah, I like the teacher a lot." I turn the knob for our locker combination. Then I realize that I don't know how to work a locker. Sheepishly throwing a smile to the patient girl next to me, she gets my silent pleas for help.

"We gotta teach you how to work these..." Mabel easily opens the door. "You could never open them since the beginning of sixth grade!"

After she puts some stuff down inside, I take my turn. "Doesn't surprise me there," my eyes roll at my own idiocy. "So, apparently, Ms. Moore always starts the first day with that kind of stuff to get the kids riled up and ready."

"That's awesome!" We shimmy our way through the crowd of students.

"Buuuuut, we are going to grow some stuff. So that'll be fun!" I smile as my sister bounces with exhilaration, gaining some unwanted but dismissed attention.

"No fair I wish I was in that class... Stop!" Mabel abruptly stops, stretching her arm out in front of me. I accidentally run into it, one of her fingers jabbing my chest.

"Ouch! Geez..." I grumble, looking at what we stopped at. _'Oh, right...art class...'_

"Move it, Pip-Squeak!" Someone rudely shoves me out of the way and enters the classroom.

"Jerk..." Mabel glares ahead at the boy.

"Never mind, let's just go in. There's Dipper over there." I don't even try to hide the annoyance in my voice. We walk in and our triplet immediately perks up, waving us over with a grin.

A woman soon after comes in and then shuts the door. About mid to late 20s, shoulder length blond, straight, hair.

"Good morning class," she greets in a rich British accent. "I'm Miss Tyler."

 _'I love accents!'_

"Anyway, let's get started right away, yeah?" Multiple heads bob with eagerness, mine included. "We'll start easy today. What I want all of you to do is draw whatever you like. I want to see all the unique sketches."

 _'Alright! I got this!'_ I hold my pencil in my right fist with determination.

"You've got thirty minutes then, go." At Miss Tyler's command, pencil scratching against paper can be heard all throughout the room.

 _'I'm not good at drawing without a reference!'_ Checking that the coast is clear, I slip my phone out.

"And no telephones." The voice of Rose Tyler was so close, it made me jump. Slowly tilting my head, I see the teacher looming over me, eyeing my phone.

Smiling sheepishly, I begrudgingly put it back.

 _'There's only a few things I can draw decently without looking at a picture...'_

I just hope the twins don't get mad.

 ***Timer Noises***

"Time's up! Pencils down!" Tyler shouts with an inside voice. "I'm going to walk around and inspect your art. If I like it, or it's unique enough, I'll tap your shoulder." Kids look around, confused. The teacher sighs but with a cheery grin, "If you get tapped, line up at the front to show off your work!"

Murmurs of despair and, especially, excitement is evident. ***Cough*** _'Mabel'_ ***Cough***

 _'Please don't choose me. Please don't choose me.'_ I squeeze my eyes tight like when someone doesn't want something to happen.

Of course, that only works in the cartoons...sometimes. Then again, this isn't a cartoon anymore, is it?

Dread fills my entire body when I feel a hand tap my shoulder. I hide a groan and stand up, walking to the front where two others are. Another two kids were chosen, so they line up, leaving me in the middle, being the third of five total. _'Just like being the middle child in a family with five kids...'_

"Alright, Carl, you go on then." Miss Tyler sits at her desk.

The kid named Carl looks like a normal child. Short brown hair, from what I can see. He's wearing what looks like a sheriff's hat. He steps forward and, _'Did I hear him gulp?'_ nervously shows his paper.

"I drew some zombies," he says.

After that, Carl sits back down. Next up is some girl name Tina. She drew some horses or something. Next, some big boy wearing slacks steps forward, looking all high and mighty.

 _'He's the guy that shoved me earlier!'_

Nathan, apparently, started going on and on about how skilled of an artist he is and how it was obvious he'd get chosen to line up. Thankfully Miss Tyler had just about enough as I did and tells him to sit back down. Few kids snicker until they were thrown glares, to which they stop instantly.

For some reason, I go last, even though I'm in the middle of the line. After some girl named Liz is done, _'She drew some pretty sick and realistic pair of guns, which I am surprised is able to be shown'_ I step up.

I take a deep breath before turning my art around. Most gasp. Mabel mock faints while Dipper's jaw if left hanging open. "I made...uh my own character. His name is Bill...Cipher?"

 _'I don't really know what to do but to play him off as my own!'_

My brother face palms so hard I think I can see a pink hand mark. Mabel is on the ground- _'Wait, did she actually faint?!'_ "It's very nice and unique, Macie, I love it. I think I will put it up as the drawing of the week." The teacher stands up and politely holds her hand out.

Guessing this is what she wants, I place my design in her hand. "Wait, that's a thing?" I ask, following her movement to the back of the class.

"It is now, yeah, haha." She pins it up with a huff, smiling.

 _'Okay...well I feel pretty good about myself...'_ Well, I did, until I met eyes with Nathan. His death stare pierces through my very soul. My body stiffens and I walk back to my seat, taking it greedily.

 ***Bell Rings***

"Oh, that's class! See you tomorrow!" Everyone says goodbye back to the teacher. I just silently pack my things and get the heck out of Dodge, still feeling Nathan's intense stare burn my neck.

"Seriously, Macie? You drew Bill?" Dipper asks with an annoyed expression as we walk down the hall to lunch together.

"Yeah, out of anything you could have drawn, you drew that isosceles monster!" Our sister says loudly, but quiet enough not to arouse suspicion.

"Oh come on, guys!" I yell exasperatedly. "I can't draw squat without a reference. So I drew what I knew I could draw! An easy triangle with a mother freaking bow tie and top hat!"

No one says anything for a minute or two, which I'm thankful for. "You okay, Mace?" Dipper breaks the silence as Mabel turns the combination for our locker.

I ignore him for a second while putting my things down in the safest place I can get, until Mabel elbows me. I roll my eyes and reply, "No, not really," I admit. "I don't know if I can do this... Everything is so overwhelming and I feel like I'm getting suffocated at times. I wanna go home..." I rub my left arm sadly.

"Um..well hey! The day's just about over, so don't worry! We'll be home before you know it!" Mabel tries lifting the mood of everybody.

But what they don't know is that I didn't mean 'our' home.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Lunch food: I actually liked mine when I went to school!~~**

The cafeteria food was pretty tasty- thank goodness! I had some chicken nuggets and fries and then of course the mandatory fruit or vegetable. I never eat it anyway...

"Mace, you comin'?" I must have zoned out, because the large room that holds many kids eating lunch is now practically empty. Dipper is off to the side, standing up with his arms on his hips, looking worried.

"Huh? Y-yeah, I am. Where're we going?" I quickly take care of my tray and wipe my hands on my pants afterwards.

"Recess," he says, grabbing my hand. As he drags me out the doors, I could have sworn I saw a kid looking at me.

 _'The fresh air is nice,'_ I think as it hit my face. Mabel comes running up at full speed. I swear there was smoke coming from the ground when she skid to a stop. "Hey, guys! Wanna play tag?"

"No!" I say quickly. The two look at me. "I am not playing tag with you two anymore! THAT was a terrible experience!" They laugh.

"Oh yeah, we need to think of something to have Macie do, remember, Mabes?" My eyes widen at Dipper.

"Yeah! Come on," she pulls the weak boy, "let's go think of something sinister together!"

"Wait- Mabel! We shouldn't just leave Macie!" Dipper protests.

"It'll be okay! It's recess!"

 _'Can't argue with Mabel's logic...'_

When the two disappear from my vision, I turn around and look for something to do. _'Kickball!'_ I see some kids kicking a ball over at a baseball diamond. Jogging over, I get in the kick line.

"Hey look! It's Pip-Squeak! Here to play kickball?" My head shoots up at the voice. Nathan. He's standing at the pitcher's mound with a ball he's juggling in his hands, a smirk on his face.

All the other kids in the radius stop what they're doing and stare at me. _'I know I was short for my age when I was sixteen, but seriously?!'_

I drown out the various teasing as I walk away from the diamond. I pull out my phone and go into contacts. Nothing except Dipper and Mabel. Sighing sadly, I put it away in my jacket pocket.

I go sit at a nearby wall, closing my eyes.

 _'Tomorrow's another day...'_

 **Next chapter will be the next day at school, but the second half of the day where we don't see in this one!**

 **P.S, No journal entry today.**

 **Yes, all of the teacher's names are actually character names from fandoms that I am in. Can you guess where they're from? The next set of teachers will be in the next chapter!**

 **Social Studies: Fred Abberline (Hint: Anime)**

 **Science: Olivia Moore (Hint: Netflix)**

 **Art: Rose Tyler**

 **Math: Rick Sanchez**

 **Language Arts: Joey Drew**

 **P.E: Sid Barrett (Hint: Anime)**

 **Any questions? Requests?**


	8. Basics in Education and Learning

**Kudos~ to Hourglass Cipher for getting all of the teacher's fandoms correct! A lot of you had them right, but she got all of them!**

 **13ForLife said: I want Macie to have music class!**

 **My reply: I don't know if I'll be able to put that in... I'm not even good at any instruments...plus, this whole school schedule thing is already really confusing, haha...ha...**

 **I'd also like to say hello to all of the new people who have started reviewing! HAI! I'm really glad you took your time to review, it makes me really happy!**

 **Kudos~ to the multiple guests (GET AN ACCOUNT :P), Your fan 1337, Night Kitten3, and Lunar Moon Butterfly!**

 **And now, self promotion!~ Find me and my sister's cosplays on Instagram and Musically! ~ SoBadIt'sGoodCosplay**

 **September 25th 2012**

First day of school? Not the best. Last half of my day was rather uneventful after recess. I had math, language arts and P.E., all with the twins, except Math, to which Dipper had social studies.

Our math teacher didn't look so good. I swear he had a hangover or something. Language arts was something, oh man... and don't get me started with P.E...

 ***Bell Rings***

Falling back to earth, I see kids lining up to go back to class. It's after recess again and Mabel comes up to me, her arm linked with Dipper's. "Heya, Mace! How's your outfit? Is everyone loving it?!"

Mabel made me wear what she wanted to see me in today. _'Stupid game of tag...'_ And I don't even know what Dipper has in store for me.

"Fine? No one has commented on it," I reply.

She gasps, startling our brother. "What!? No one? Okay, that's it." She un-links her arm and grabs mine, dragging me up to a line of students in a hurry.

 _'What I'm wearing? You don't wanna know... I feel so stupid and- what does this girl think she's doing?!'_ My eyes go wide when Mabel stops in front of every kid. She climbs up onto a ledge, bringing me with her. Teachers and children all stop talking at the same time.

"Attention everybody!" Mabel calls out. _'Oh no...'_ I groan and hide my face. "This is my triplet, Macie," she continues as I feel a hand prying mine off my face. I could only imagine my cheeks are redder than Hookfang at this point.

"Mabel..." I hear Dipper whisper from below us, looking between us and the crowd worriedly.

"I dressed her in this special outfit just for school and no one has complemented her!" Murmers echo throughout but all I can hear are the snickers. "So, if anybody would like to come up and do so, that would be great!"

Surprisingly, someone stepped up. It's Carly, that one girl from science class. _'Mabel's told me about her, but I don't think we've spoken.'_

"Uh, I like the outfit, a lot, Mabel..." she squeaks and then runs back to her line up.

"Thank you, Carly! Anyone else?" I pray that no one would come up, but it doesn't work. I regret opening my eyes as the one who steps up is Nathan. _'Oh no.'_

"Well where do I begin?" he starts with a fake nice voice. Mabel grins, probably thinking he's coming around. "For starters, you're wearing a sweater that says, 'Mister Duck Lumps' with a terribly made cartoon duck smack in the middle." Kids start laughing as Mabel's grin falters. "Second, are you hot or cold? I mean, the sweater and then a short skirt? What are you trying to say?"

A teacher finally comes to their senses and stops Nathan, ordering him back in line and then walking up to us. I drown everything out; the laughter, the cat calls. "Mabel, Macie, and Dipper, please go line up and get back to class. I don't want this happening again," Sid Barrett says, his arms on his hips.

Mabel hops off from our spot while Dipper grabs my hand and helps me down. "Come on, Mace." Dipper puts his hand on my back and starts leading the way when the teacher speaks up again.

"Macie. Hang back a sec', I wanna talk to you." We all turn back at the same time. _'Triplet stuff? I don't know but it's creepy...'_ Seeing that the twins won't back down, the P.E. teacher glares and says, sternly, "Alone."

"It's okay guys. Get to class and I'll be there soon." Mabel looks upset, but nods silently and leaves. My over-protective brother, on the other hand, glares at the teacher and reluctantly turns around and shuffles his feet to the school.

"You're not in any trouble, Macie." I release a huge sigh of relief I didn't even know I was holding. "Are you okay?" he asks, taking me by surprise.

"Wait, what? I-I'm okay...I think?" I try to regather my bearings.

"I know school is hard and all... but it doesn't make it easier going and embarrassing yourself either. Let me know if Nathan gives you any more trouble. He's a transfer student and didn't take the move his family made very well."

"Doesn't give him any right to tease me..." I mumble.

"You're right." I jump, not knowing he heard me. "So let me know if he does it again."

"Okay, ." He takes his leave and so do I. Quickly walking down the hall, I avoid the principal telling some other kids 'No running in the halls!' and dive into my next class.

 _'Math. Great. Just what I needed...'_

Opening the door, the class goes silent as all attention lands on me. Mabel, who was tracing circles on her desk, looks up and flashes me a sad smile, waving me over to my seat. "Are you okay?" she asks me.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." I say harder than I meant to. Before Mabel can say anything, the teacher clears his throat, then proceeds to burp loudly.

Rick Sanchez is a very good math teacher but his people skills could use some work. "Alright, attention everybody," he burps again, making me wince in disgust. _'Like I said, his people skills need work. A lot of work.'_

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Math: I hate it. That's it.~~**

Dipper meets me and our sister by our shared locker with a frown. "What's wrong?" I ask, putting away my spiral notebook.

"This kid named Alex. They always say they're better than me at everything and what sucks is that I have em' for math, science, and socials!" The brunette throws his hands in the air, accidentally whacking our locker door. It sways as the boy clenches his hand in pain. "Ow, ow!"

"So basically you got a rival?" I clarify with a slight smile, slamming the cabinet door shut.

"Exactly! But I know I'm better than them. Why?" _'I guess he saw my face...'_ "Because back in elementary school, I got a higher score by one point on a test in third grade!" He stands proudly, closing his eyes with a triumphant smile.

Mabel giggles, "Alex is actually really nice. We should introduce you two together!"

"No. Mabel, no!" Mabel runs off, getting instantly chased by Dipper, his hand outstretched in a desperate attempt to stop our crazy sister. Smiling faintly, I shake my head at my siblings' antics.

I look down to my school schedule really quick, just to make sure I know where I'm going, when someone's leg hits my shin. I recoil but don't say anything as I look up. "Um, Macie, right?" a boy asks.

 _'He's the kid who I accidentally kicked in the shin yesterday!'_ I nod and just stand there.

"Well, my name's Aiden. I saw you at recess today-"

I cut him off, throwing my head back and groaning. "If you want to insult me, please just do it behind my back."

"Wha? No! I wanted to start over after yesterday and..." he trails off shyly.

"Oh. Okay then, hi." I wave awkwardly. _'He's literally right in front of me why did I wave!?'_

Chuckling, he waves back with a hearty, "Hi." I rub my heel into the ground, not really sure what to say now.

Thankfully, he starts the conversation back up. "So," he coughs into his fist, "what class are you going to right now?"

"Umm language arts. You?" I answer and then question.

"Science. I'm in seventh grade, so I have different classes than you."

"How do you know?" I quip.

He startles, suddenly standing very stiff and straight with a hint of pink flushing his cheeks. "Well- uh!- After you kicked me, I felt that I was rude to react the way I did even when you said sorry...Umm, so I did some research on you so I could get a chance to talk."

"I see... I gotta get goin' now." As I say this, the warning bell rings loudly.

"Right... Okay, bye!" Waving once again, he turns a corner from the hallway, dissipating from view. ' _Good thing class is right here!'_ I think to myself as I walk across the hall to L.A.

The smell of ink and paper fills my nostrils immediately as I enter the room. A stern looking man is sitting at his desk, writing...doodling?

Dipper waves me over from the back of the class. I raise an eyebrow at the missing presence of our sister as I make my way to him. "Sitting up there," he points with a sigh, "couple of her friends are in here so..."

My lips form an 'O' shape in understanding.

"Alright class," Mister Joey Drew stands up, chalk in hand and begins writing on the board with perfect cursive. "Yesterday, I taught you about the animating business. Now I want you to write about those kinds of cartoons in the nineteen hundreds. Proceed."

 _'I know what I'm writing about! It's THE Dancing Demon!' Wait, does it have to be non -fiction?'_

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Bendy was a little devil thing!~~**

"I don't think I've written that much. Ever," Mabel whines as we walk down to P.E. all together.

"Mabel," Dipper sighs, "you write stuff down _all_ the time."

"Yeah. _Awesome_ stuff! Never any of this...real timey stuff and all that junk." I roll my eyes at our sister.

"Well, why don't you make it fun?" I suggest.

Mabel tilts her head. "Whaddya mean?"

"I _mean_ \- Oof!" My elbow instantaneously starts burning and tingling with an insane sensation.

My head starts pounding and it doesn't help when I hear Dipper's yells ringing in my ear. I assume my female triplet is helping me up, hence the strong grip. When I fully stand, I rub my eyes and look around. Mabel's now in front of me and is waving her little hand in front of my eyes.

"St-stop." I push her hands down.

"Are you okay?!" _'Did she just screech? It sure sounds like she did, oh my goodness.'_ The pounding continues. "Nathan just ran you over!"

"He did?" I groan.

"Yeah! Dipper's chewing him out." She jabs her thumb into the gym.

"Whatever. Let's go." I shimmy past her and sit on the nearby bleachers in the gym. Inside, I see the coach holding my small brother back from blowing up on Nathan, while said bully is laughing his guts out.

"Alright, that's ENOUGH!" Every kid that is in this class stops and freezes, Dipper and Nathan included. "Now everybody line up on the wall," Barrett commands. We all obey and quickly do as told.

Dipper reunites with us with his arms crossed and a scowl on his lips. "Jerk...Macie, you okay?"

"My head hurts..."

Tsking, Dipper now looks worried instead of angry, "Oh, lemme see." I lean my head on his shoulder as he moves my hair a little to check for damage. "You're fine," he concludes.

"Thanks..." I don't move my noggin as I am way too comfortable. "Did you even tell the teacher what happened?"

"No," the boy spits, "I didn't get a chance to because Nathan starting provoking me and making fun of you...so I kinda went crazy..." He looks down sheepishly.

"Is fine," I slur and then wince as the burning in my elbow increases a bit.

"Alright everyone," the coach blows his whistle, "laps today. Go." He opens the door to outside and while some students groan, most break into a sprint, eager to show who's fastest in the class.

"C'mon, Mace." Both siblings pull my arms, dragging me outside and onto the track. _'My head may hurt but I am very competitive. So I'm going to beat this lap as fast as I can!'_ Without warning, I shoot out of my siblings' grips. I hear them cry out in surprise and start chasing after me.

Dipper collapses soon after.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Dipper's lack of stamina!~~**

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _9-25-12_

 _The bus ride home was horrible. A pounding headache doesn't help with motion sickness so I practically squeezed my triplets' hands the entire time. When we finally got off at our stop, I literally booked it from that vehicle to my bedroom and threw myself under the covers. I think I fell asleep after that because when I woke, it was past dinner time and Mabel was coloring with a simple lamp on._

 _The second day of school was worse than the first, shockingly, but I think I made a new friend. Aiden...unless he just wanted to say hi and that's it... I dunno, I would't be surprised if he doesn't, though._

 _Crap, Mabel is eating Smile Dip again._

 _Macie Pines~~_

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! What do you think of Aiden? Nathan? Reviews are my life essence!**

 **Also, did anybody figure out the three character Easter Eggs from last chapter? Lemme know ;)**


	9. Is The New Principal Really Our Pal?

**I'mma add the days now as well ^-^**

 **Wednesday September 26 2012 **

"Not to jinx it or anything...but I haven't seen Aliya at all this week," I voice my thoughts as my siblings and I walk down the school hallway. It's Wednesday, which means there's an assembly. The principal, like almost every school I know of, holds one to make announcements and such.

"I heard from one of her friends that she and her parents went to Italy and haven't came back yet. But apparently they called ahead of time to let the school know that she'd be, like, a week late or something." I nod, satisfied with Mabel's answer.

"Hey," Dipper speaks up, "who even _is_ our principal?" I stop in my tracks, causing the two to stop as well.

"That is a good question... Wait- shouldn't you guys _know_ who it is?" Blushing, Dipper chuckles and splutters.

Saving him from more embarrassment, Mabel quickly answers, "Well this year we have a new one. Last year's principal retired. Such a shame, too, I loved putting stickers on his desk when no one was looking!" Rolling my eyes, though with a smile, I shake my head at our sister's antics that I wish I saw and continue moving to the gym.

At last, we reach the large gym doors. We open them and find kids among kids sitting on the stairs, bleachers, ground, you name it, all chatting until it starts. Silently, my female triplet points to an empty spot on the stairs. So, carefully, we make our way through the crowd, careful not to stop on anyone or bump into them.

"Alright everyone, settle down, the assembly's about to start!" Sid Barrett, the P.E. teacher speaks loudly into the microphone up on the stage. I don't blame most of the children who shut up right then and there. "Now I know school only started a few days ago and most of you haven't met the principal, so here he is now."

Teachers and staff clap as a man walks on stage with a smile. "Good morning, Piedmont!" he starts off, "I am William Rehpic but I like to go by Bill." For some reason, this man gives me the creeps.

 _'And by the looks of it, it seems like he gives Dipper them, too.'_ I ponder, looking at my brother.

"What are the odds?" Mabel frowns, pouting. A kid next to her shushes her so she quiets down.

"First announcement! Since I'm the new principal here, I've decided to change the mascot!" Excited and disappointed murmurs litter the room. Clearing his throat, Mr. Rehpic continues, "Instead of being the Piedmont Lancers... We're going to be the Piedmont Pyramids!"

"Uhhhh..." I lean over and whisper to Dipper with uncertainty, "does any of this make you feel...anxious?"

Dipper, sitting stiff as can be, slowly nods in the affirmative.

The assembly went on for another forty five minutes before it ended. When it did, everyone at once stood up and stretched their legs, me included. I groan while doing so as Mabel gathers her things. "Dip? Wha's wrong?" she asks, putting a hand on his back.

"I-I dunno, I just got a weird feeling from the new principal, that's all..."

"Hey! Me, too! But look on the bright side! We're not Lancers anymore! We're Pyramids and pyramids are cool!" Mabel smiles brightly.

 _'I don't think she gets what we're thinking...'_

"Mabel, I don't think you understand... The guy's name is William but likes to go by Bill. Although that is the appropriate nickname for William... Plus! He changed the mascot to pyramids- PYRAMIDS! Doesn't that strike you as odd? I know Macie felt it." I nod in agreement with our brother.

"Well... Lots of people's names are Bill. And maybe the new principal really likes Egypt? Come on, Dipper, Macie, it has to be a coincidence!"her voice wavers a bit. _'Is she trying to reassure us or herself?'_

The bell suddenly rings and I notice that we are the only ones left in the gym. "Maybe...maybe Mabel's right, Dip," I look around nervously, feeling like I'm being watched for some reason. "Maybe it's all just a coincidence... I mean, Bill is gone!"

"But Macie... What happens after Gravity Falls ends? That was left for anybody to decide..." At Dipper's comment, we all go silent and stare at each other.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Sam and Dean Winchester opening the gates of Hell (Supernatural FTW)~~**

I feel like the rest of my day went by agonizingly slow after what Dipper said. _'What if he's right? Bill very well might actually be back! We never know what happens after the show besides the books and none that I have read had anything on Bill possibly coming back. It's basically a fan fiction now, where anything can and will happen!'_

"Oof!" I accidentally run into a hard figure. "Sorry," I mumble and keep my head down, trying to get past.

"Hey, Macie!" It's Aiden. "Where are you off to?" he asks with a smile.

Since yesterday I've managed to barely avoid him, but for some reason, he keeps trying to start up a conversation. _'Reminds me of Matt...'_ ***Shivers***

"Uh... P.E., last class of the day."

"Oh, nice- hey! You know a guy named Nathan? He should be in most of your classes, but I'm not sure..." I nod, not liking where this is going. "Cool! Okay- can you give himmmm," he trails off while fishing something from his pocket, "this!"

"What is it?" I examine the pure white envelope.

"Lunch money. I'll see you around!" He leaves while waving, not saying anything else and leaving me alone in the empty halls.

"Get to class, young lady." The deep voice scares me. I turn around and it's the principal. "Better hurry or you'll be late. But no running in the halls!" Gulping, I swallow the large lump in my throat and scurry off.

After bursting through the gym doors, the bell rings right after. I let out a sigh of relief that I wasn't late. "Alright, kids, line up!" our teacher booms loudly, not needing a microphone anymore.

I catch up to my triplets who are up against the wall like everyone else. "Where were you?" Mabel leans forward off the wall a bit to look at my face past Dipper's.

"Got held up by Aiden again." I roll my eyes when the brunette silently squeals.

"Ooooooh Aiden totally wants to be your friend! No one would try that hard if they didn't!"

"Mabel..." I trail off, "he just wanted me to hand this lunch money to Nathan. I don't know why but he practically threw it onto me and ran. So..." I wave the envelope around.

"Lemme see that." Dipper snatches it. "Dude!" he cries out in surprise, "There's like twenty dollars in here!"

"All for lunch?" I ask, taking it back and peeking inside for myself.

"Well, however much it may be, someone's gotta pass it off to him."

"Mabel's right. But I don't wanna do it!" I cower into myself for dramatic effect.

"Just- oh!" Dipper takes it back from me again and lets it float to the floor. "The teacher, or somebody will find it and it will land back in Nathan's hands! I just wanna know why Aiden gave it to you to give to him..."

"Well, we're in most of the same classes, so I guess that's why he figured I'd do it?" Multiple possibilities appear in my mind but I pay them no attention.

Suddenly, throwing my siblings and me out of our little moment, a whistle goes off very loudly, even causing some kids to cover their poor ears. "I said NO talking," Sid directs his anger straight to us, making me gulp. "Dodgeball. Go." He blows his whistle one more time to indicate P.E. starting.

Kids burst off to the middle of the gym where the adult, apparently, set up multiple red dodge balls. As soon as people grab two or even three, they go airborne, smacking others in their faces and such.

I pull my brother and put him in front of me, acting like a shield. He splutters and tries to get out of my grip but not before getting socked in the gut by a ball. "Urghhh," the boy groans, kneeling down and clutching his stomach.

"Dipper, you're out! Carl, you too!" The coach starts saying names left and right from the sheer speed of kids getting knocked out.

"Mabel?!" I don't see my sister anywhere!

"Mace!" A cry comes out from the other end of the gym. Squinting, I see the girl ducking and dodging balls from all around. _'Dang she's good!'_

I race over to her, barely missing a ball to my face. I don't have time to catch my breath, either, because as soon as I get there, Mabel pushes me down to the ground. I was about to yell at her and demand why she did that but the action speaks for itself as I look up to see more round, rubber, bouncy balls flying towards us.

We quickly scatter.

After 5 minutes of heart attack inducing sports, there's only four people left. Liz, Mabel, Nathan, and me.

I also just realize the white envelope smack dab in the middle of the gym, untouched and unnoticed.

"Hyah!" _'Whoa!'_ I duck underneath a ball. It's so close I could feel the wind brush my hair. Liz has a good arm so it ends up taking out Mabel, who was behind me.

"Mabel! You're out!" Said girl pouts for a moment but quickly shines me a bright and encouraging smile along with a double thumbs up.

While Liz reloads, I stand back and take notice of my surroundings. Nathan sees the chance and hits the long haired girl out. He shouts in victory as Liz curses, "Yes! I win!"

 _'Does no one see me?'_

The whistle blows, yet again, and Nathan stops. "Macie is still in. It's a one on one, go!" The blond haired boy glowers at me. All of the dodge balls are on his side of the gym, so I'm left defenseless until he takes a shot.

"H-hey!" A voice yells out, causing an echo in the gym. Everyone turns to look at the teen. _'What the heck are you doing, Dipper?!'_ Even Mabel is wondering because she stopped talking to her friends to look at him incredulously. Dipper pulls at his collar before saying, "Wh-what is that right there?" He points to the money on the ground.

Everyone tilts their heads, _'trying to identify it, I guess?'._ Nathan walks over, bends over, then picks it up, smirking when turning it around. "Alright! It's my lunch money! How'd it get here?"

All the while this happened, Dipper slyly pointed to a stray ball. I got what he was saying and sneakily moved over to it. I grab it and lob the thing as hard as I can. It smacks the bully in the back at point blank.

The rest of the class goes wild in applause. "What?!" Nathan yells, "Not fair!"

"All's fair in dodgeball, Nat," Sid chuckles.

"Wooo! Go MACIE!" Mabel runs and hugs me.

"Dude all I did was knock him out..." I rub the back of my neck sheepishly.

"So? It was AMAZING!" Dipper hops happily.

 ***Bell Rings***

"That's school, let's go!" Mabel giddily links her arms in mine and our brother's and starts dragging us away.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: What is your favorite P.E. game? Mine is Sharks and Minnows!~~**

"Mace!" I turn around at my name. Aiden runs up while waving, slinging his bag over one shoulder. "Glad I caught up to you! Did you get that envelope to Nathan?"

"Yeah."

"That's good, thank you for doing that!" He teeters on the heels of his feet for a moment, not making eye contact. "Um, I was wondering if you wanted to chat sometime? You know- outside of school?"

My eyebrow quirks. I trail the 'W', "Why?"

Blushing, he flinches, probably not thinking I'd react the way I did. "Well- you know- I see you around a lot but only with your brother and sister, so I thought I'd get to know you better... After you hit me in the shins on the first day of school- I dunno, you look like you needed some friends?"

"Fine." I roll my eyes and give him my number. His smile stretches so far he reminds me of the Grinch.

"Th-thanks! I'll text you sometime!" He scurries off, jumping around the corner with a "Woo hoo!" he probably thinks I didn't hear.

"Eh? What did I say!?" Mabel's voice startles me as both her and Dipper walk down the stairs of the school.

She elbows the boy in his gut, causing him to wince. "Agh, Mabel, please not there."

"Whatever, I don't understand his infatuation with me. I don't really care about friends other than you two." I wave them off as Mabel passes our hurting brother to me.

"Oh come on, Macie! You gotta give him a chance! Having other friends than us two is healthier!"

"How?" I cross my arms, "I don't really need anyone else since I got you guys."

"Sweet," Pine Tree coughs, "very sweet but Mabel's right. You should connect with someone other than us."

"How? How can I connect with anyone when I can't be myself around anyone but you!?"

Silence falls amidst the triangle we have inadvertently formed.

Bus 16's horn honks, generating us to get in the car and settle down.

 _'Thank goodness Nathan doesn't ride our bus home...'_ I think to myself as I sit in the front seat of the yellow car. Dipper sits beside me while Mabel is back with Liz?I think.

I hear the boy's mouth open and grab an intake of air, so before he speaks, I cut him off, "No." That shut him up real fast, though I wince at how harshly I said it.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Liz and Patti Thompson from Soul Eater!~~**

The rest of the day is pretty uneventful. Dipper plays more Undertale, trying to perfect it or something. Mabel is planning stuff. What? I don't know because she won't let me in our room! So I'm stuck down in the living room with my brother as he frustratingly plays my game.

"Come on! There's gotta be a way to save him!" I grab his hands before he can smash down onto the keyboard.

"Stop." I take my laptop back. Pouting, he whines like a 4 year old.

"Mmmmm- Oh!" I look to the brunette with an annoyed face. "I have decided what I want you to do!" Raising an eyebrow, I silently show him that I have no clue what he's talking about. "Tag? Mabel already did hers and now it's my turn!" I throw my head back and groan.

"Have some pity!"

"Nah, I don't think I will. Now what I want is you to show me this Netflix thing on your tabs."

"Netflix? It's a movie and TV streaming website." I click into it. _'Thank goodness it's still logged in!'_

"Sweet! Show me one of your favorite shows!" Stars appear in the teen's eyes.

"Okaaaay..." _'Is it just me or is he being a little out of character?'_ "How To Train Your Dragon: Race To The Edge. But there's two seasons before this series that's not on here and I'd rather show the both of you when I have all seasons."

"Fair enough... But could you also play through Undertale so I can watch and take notes?"

"Take notes of what!?"

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _9-26-12_

 _Thanks to my brother, I stayed up until 1 in the morning explaining to him- after playing through Undertale TWICE- that, "No, Dipper, you absolutely, definitively, can NOT save Asriel."_

 _Mabel finally let me in the room a little after that. I noticed the dark circles under her eyes and when I asked about it she said it was about her 'plans'._

 _Aiden messaged me but I didn't know what to say back. All he said was, 'Hey it's me Aiden.' I'm awkward over text and face to face, so don't judge me! Dipper kept trying to encourage me to respond while I was in his room playing but I didn't let him convince me._

 _I got the Gravity Falls characters,I don't need anyone else in this world._

 _Do I?_

 _Macie~~_

 **What? No. This isn't going to be romance. Also, no chapter for a while. I'm going to Great Wolf Lodge on Monday. I hope you all enjoyed, though!**

 **Question: Do you want Bill to actually come back or would you rather have all of the principal business just coincidence?**

 **Happy Father's Day everyone!**


	10. Simply The Best

**To whoever is the guest that has their name as 'Nah No Account' and 'Still No Account'...You, my friend, are awesome. Thanks for making my day! XD**

 **Saturday, September 29th 2012**

As I toss and turn in my bed, I curse at my mind because it won't settle down to let me sleep. Groaning, I roll over and pull my phone from the end table and turn it on. That, alone, was a mistake as it was on maximum brightness. I shut my eyes as fast I can and wince as they sting.

 _'Ugh...'_ I turn the device back on while facing it down, turning the brightness to the lowest setting and then opening it to the home screen. _'At least now I won't go blind...'_

It's only 3:58 am, which means I'm stuck here until morning. I could read fan fiction...watch stuff- but at this time, my stomach decides to show off its skill in rumbling. I groan, again, and throw off my comforter. I startle when my ring bangs onto the wall, emanating a loud sound.

I stay still as shuffling can be heard from Mabel's side of the room. Thankfully, she only switched to different positions and didn't wake up.

Suddenly, an idea pops into my mind. Opening the Netflix app on my phone, I immediately search for Miraculous Ladybug. _'Which episode?'_ I ponder to myself as I scroll down the list of episodes.

 _'Volpina? Nah, I don't feel like screaming in anger right now... Oh, I know!'_ I happily tap on the Evillistrator. This one was my mom's favorite. I smile sadly and press play, nibbling on a nearby granola bar.

 **~~Time Skip brought you by: Chloe Bourgeois being such a terrible character you just love her...Or maybe that's just me...~~**

"Macie...?" Blinking, I rub my crusty eyes as Mabel's voice rattles me from my show.

"Yeah?" I ask in the middle of yawning.

"Whatcha doin'?" She leans over me, peeking at my phone.

"Nothing, just watching some Miraculous Ladybug since I can't sleep. What are you doing up so late?"

"Umm... It's nine-thirty." Hearing this, I shoot up in my bed and throw my earbuds out. I tap the screen and press pause, taking a look at the clock on the top and seeing that, yes, it is indeed exactly 9:34 am.

"What the heck!?" I cry, throwing my blanket off. Then I panic as I realize I'm not wearing anything but a tank top on top of my my undergarments. "Gah!" I cover the blanket over my body again and flush. Mabel only laughs.

"Mace, c'mon, you know we're triplets, right?" She pats me on the back but it doesn't help my embarrassment at all. "Wait," she trails off, not moving, "what did you say you were watching?"

"Miraculous Ladybug... How the heck did I stay up all morning?!" I reply calmly and then scream.

"I don't know but I wanna watch that show, too!"

"What?"

"Remember when you said you'd show us some of your favorite shows! That ladybug one was one of them! I wanna watch it, pleaseeee!?" Mabel jumps in place with puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, alright!" I laugh, attempting to calm her down. "I was planning on showing it to you two anyways..."

"Wait, Dipper's gonna watch it, too?!"

"Well, I was gonna ask but if you want to watch it with just the two of us-!" I get cut off as Mabel suddenly tackles me while screeching.

"No, no no no no no! I totally want to watch it with Dipper! It'll be so amazing!" I laugh and push her off.

"Okay, get Dipper and I'm going to get dressed." Nodding, my sister runs out of our room. I chuckle as I hear the pitter patter of her socked feet thumping on the floor. Quickly throwing on some lounge clothes, I turn on my computer and wait for it to start up.

"Mabel would you please just tell me what show?! I hope it's a supernatural one like Ghost Harassers!" Dipper says while being dragged into the room by the one and only Mabel.

"It's a surprise! I don't even know what it's about except for the name!" she retorts with a pout directed to me.

"It's Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug And Chat Noir," I say blandly. "Now come're, I got it up."

"Sounds like a girly TV show," Dipper says skeptically, crossing his arms.

"Shut up, sit down, and enjoy," I command the two, to which Mabel instantly hops onto my bed and bounces in her seat, looking giddy. Dipper, still looking skeptical, sits with his eyebrows quirked.

I click on the first episode, titled The Bubbler, and the theme song soon starts.

 _ **"In the daytime, I'm Marinette, just a normal girl with a normal life. But there's something about me that no one knows yet, cause I have a secret... MIRACULOUS! Simply the best!"**_

"Nope! That's it! I'm out!" Hearing this, I pause the show and turn around.

Dipper is standing up all stiff with his hands up. Then he spins around and starts making his way out of our room.

"Oh no you don't!" I grab his arm and practically tackle him to my bed.

"Ack! Macie!"

"Haha! Go, Mace!" Mabel cheers me on with enjoyment while laughing and clapping.

"You are _not_ leaving!" I tell the boy, letting him up just a little bit to breathe properly.

"I don't want to watch this. It sounds so duuuumb!"

I roll my eyes at my brother's childish behavior. "Look," I sigh, getting off of him fully, "Just...just watch the first episode and if you still don't want to watch it...I'll leave you alone."

My brother goes into deep thought but I already know his answer is yes. How?

 _'I can tell by the look on his face that he is pretending to be pondering just so I can feel better when he 'reluctantly' decides to stay.'_

He exhales deeply, "Alright...I'll watch the first episode- but that's it!"

 _'See?'_

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: The Prophet of God: Chuck *Cough* Supernatural *Cough*~~**

"So-so Marinette is in love with Adrien but Adrien is in love with Ladybug but he doesn't know Marinette is Ladybug and Ladybug is in love with Adrien but she doesn't know that Adrien is Chat Noir who is in love with Ladybug!"

Mabel and my eyes are bulging by the time Dipper finishes his long rant in one breath. He's panting so hard I nonchalantly pull out my inhaler and offer it to him.

Though he's basically dying, my triplet manages a chuckle and pushes my arm away.

"So...uh," Mabel finally speaks, "Too girly, huh?"

The brunette's eyes widen as he avoids contact and his cheeks burn a deep pink.

"Well- well I just-!" I shut my teen brother's mouth before he can embarrass himself even further.

"Chloe reminds me of Pacifica..." Mabel trails off, looking at the ceiling, supposedly thinking out loud or just to herself. "But even then, Pacifica is trying to be a better person and Chloe is just..." she makes the same noise Dipper did for Pacifica from the Golf War episode.

I can't help but chortle.

"Well?!" Dipper startles us both.

"Well what?" I ask.

"Play the next episode!"

"Okay okay!" I sporadically wave my hand everywhere until it lands on the space bar. Pressing down, the next episode begins.

"This show is so awesome!" I think my brother has literal stars in his eyes as he says this.

"No, it's adorable _and_ AMAZING! Why don't we have something like this in our world!?" I laugh at Mabel's input.

"Guys, shush! It's starting." At my command, the twins stop bouncing in their seats and focus on my computer screen.

The episode, Mr. Pigeon, plays and all throughout it, my siblings and I guffaw; them laughing at the sheer weirdness of the entire thing and me laughing at their laughing.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: *What's New Pussy Cat* starts playing~~**

"WHY ARE THEY SO BLIND? THEY LEAVE AT THE SAME TIME, THEY NEVER SEE ONE ANOTHER IN THE SAME ROOM WITH THEIR HERO PERSONAS AND THEY LOOK AND TALK THE EXACT SAME!" I cover my ears as I swear they start to bleed from Dipper's shrieking.

"Chill! It's frustrating. Yes. But it's part of the show!" I scream back, making him sit down with a pout.

Slowly turning to see Mabel's reaction after five episodes total, she looks to be vibrating in her seat. "Uh...Mabes?" I try not to make any sudden moves but it proves fruitless as she suddenly springs up.

"OMG MARINETTE AND ADRIEN ARE SOOOO CUTE! I SHIP THEM SO HARD BUT IT'S HARD WHEN THERE'S A LOVE TRIANGLE AND-UGHHHH!"

"Okay! That's enough!" I stand up from my chair and x off the browser.

"Wait, what?"

"Hey!"

Both start spouting out questions as to why I just so suddenly turned the tab off. "I'm done listening to you two go at it every single episode! We've gotten through five in a whopping four hours!"

 _'Oh no! She isn't guilt tripping me!'_ I think as tears start to form in the corner of Mabel's eyes. "But Macie!" Dipper whines.

"No! It's already really late and I'm starving!" I push through them. "I'm going to get dessert!" I announce, not leaving them a window to plead anymore. When I get to the kitchen, I open up the freezer and pull out a pail of ice cream.

I also grab out the scooper for such frozen delectables. "Mace..." Turning around, slightly startled, I see my twins in the doorway looking sheepish.

"We're sorry for being so loud and were wondering if we could maybe watch one or two more while you eat before going to bed?" Dipper asks, rubbing his heel on the floor.

 _'I don't think I've ever seen them any cuter!'_

"Okay. Only because you guys look flippin adorable right now!"

"Yes! I told you cuteness is key, Dipper!" Mabel "Ha's" in his face and runs back up the stairs. "We'll meet you up there, Macie!"

Dipper salutes me and takes off as well. I have to wait a few minutes to even begin scooping out the ice cream, so when I finally do, I quickly serve some in a bowl and throw the utensil in the sink when I'm done. Next, I grab out a fork (don't judge) and open the freezer, again, to put back the pail. When that's done, I open the fridge door to grab out chocolate sauce to put on top.

Drizzling some onto the mountain of chocolaty goodness until I'm satisfied, I put it back.

I rush up into the room to find Dipper and Mabel gushing about some things on the show. I smile with pure joy as I re-enter and sit in my chair. "Ready?"

Without another word, they nod with excitement.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Akumas, most of them were caused by Chloe... BUT some were caused by Adrien and Marinette...~~**

"Alya was so close!" We just finished The Pharaoh and Dipper won't stop talking about all the cool things he learned about Ladybug from it.

"Welp," I yawn, "I'm beat, g'night." I flop down onto my bed, ignoring the fact that the twins are sitting there. I hear a boy's chuckle as a tender hand places itself on my head.

"Alright, yeah let's get to bed." I hear Dipper get off the bed. "Goodnight guys."

"Night!" Mabel says back, also getting up off my bed.

"Brglgrglr..." I mumble into my covers. Mabel giggles.

"Mace, we gotta brush teeth!" She gasps so suddenly it made me shoot up with alarm. "We gotta go have a toothbrush race!" she squeals and bursts out of the room. The door sways.

Shaking my head in amusement, I get out my diary instead of joining them.

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _9-29-12_

 _Today I showed the twins one of my favorite TV shows, Miraculous Ladybug. And boy was that stressful! Who knew Dipper would get so worked up over it? Mabel was calm and collected... most of the time, which surprised me. I hope we can finish it soon and move on to another one of my favorite shows._

 _They keep bothering me about showing them Gravity Falls but...I want to wait and show the whole group the show all together. Will we go back to Gravity Falls next summer?_

 _I'm sure we will._

 _Aiden hasn't texted me since the first one he sent. Probably because I haven't said anything back...whoops. Oh well, I'll respond sometime..._

 _OMG, Mabel just came in wearing a Dummy Bear nightgown... Heh.._

 _Anyways, tomorrow's Sunday. So I doubt we'll be doing anything except watch TV._

 _I'm gonna regret writing that down, I'm sure of it..._

 _Macie~~_

 **Anyone know the Dummy Bear reference?**

 **No motivation + No time = THIS!**

 **I hope you you all enjoyed!**

 **I'm also not sure when the next chapter will come out, so I'm sorry in advance if I don'r publish for a while!**

 **Also, submit ideas! I'd love to hear them!**


	11. Beyond Two Kids

**Title is based on the game 'Beyond Two Souls' also, Aiden's name is also from the character from the same game.**

 **Aiden: Eye-din**

 **Wednesday, October 3rd 2012**

"You have to!"

"No, I don't"

"Yes you do!"

"No, Mabel, I don't!" I argue with my sister about texting back Aiden.

"Yuh-huh! Know why?" She doesn't give me a chance to answer, although I feel that her question was rhetorical in the first place. "Because," she drawls out matter-of-factly, "he's texted you a ton since Saturday and you haven't responded!"

"And that elicits me to invite him over to our _house how_?"

"Well, since you never responded- and you've been avoiding him during school!- you should, at the very least, invite him over to hang out."

"I wasn't avoiding him!" Mabel gives me a once over. "I was just...thinking of what to say!" I stutter out.

"Right, well, it's almost lunch, which means it's almost recess. Which _means_ , all the kids go outside and I'm not allowing Dipper to help hide you anymore! I'm gonna actually grab Aiden and lead him to you!" Mabel says proudly.

"No, no, no, no! Mabel!" I cry out to her when she runs away, giggling. "Ughhh," I groan.

At this time, Aliya decides to walk up. I inwardly groan to myself, thinking about how I have no time for this. "Was that Mabel? Where's she going?" the girl asks.

"Like I would know? She just ran off," I reply boredly.

"Yes, you would know because she's your sister! Though she doesn't need you as one. She'd be better off as a twin with Dipper instead of being a triplet with your ugly face."

 _'Is she trying to get a rise outta me?'_ I yawn involuntarily, which seems to make her even angrier.

"So tell me where she went, I have to talk to her about some things." Aliya flips her hair like Pacifica. _'Dear Thor, give me Pacifica instead of this she-devil any day...'_

"Talk about what?" I ask, getting a glare from the bully, "What? You think I'll just give my sister's location away to the likes of you? Not that I even know where she is..."

"Ugh! Whatever, I'll find and sit with her during lunch!" she harrumphs and saunters off.

 _'Gonna have to ask Mabel about her later...'_

The warning bell for lunch rings, so I hurry up and get to my locker. Dipper's been helping me practice with a lock at home, so I think I got this in the bag! Soon enough, I'm alone in the hallways as all the students already filed out to the cafeteria.

All the while I'm still here twisting and turning this darn thing.

"Need help?" A voice asks, coming out of no where. I jump many feet in the air from the fright and hold a hand to my heart.

I go to chew the person out but my jaw freezes at the sight of Aiden. We just stand there and say nothing while looking at each other in awkward silence until Aiden coughs into his fist, "Um, so yes?"

"O-oh, yeah, I do but I don't wanna give you my combination."

"Don't worry, that's why I'm here." I give him my confused face. "Mabel sent me." I 'O' in understanding, though on the inside, I'm seething. Smiling, he gestures for me to move, so I do and he opens my locker with no problem. "Ta-da!" He chuckles in embarrassment when I say nothing.

"Kay, thanks..." I put my stuff away and quickly shut the door, hastily making my way to the cafeteria.

"H-hey, wait!" I hear him call from behind me and the sound of his steps getting closer. "I was wondering if you've gotten my texts? And why you might have been avoiding me? It's totally cool if you weren't! It just kinda felt like you were..." he shyly adds quickly.

"I didn't know what to say back," I reply as we turn a corner.

"Well...I was wondering if you wanted to-!" Aiden was cut off by none other than the principal himself, who still gives me the creeps.

"Kids. Aren't you supposed to be at lunch?" he asks with an eyebrow raised. I stand still, not sure what to say.

"Yeeeees we are, come on, Macie." Aiden grabs my hand and drags me along. I turn back and see the adult staring at me with an eerie smile, his eyes not leaving mine. "Kay, I gotta get to my table," Aiden tells me, letting go of my hand and scurrying off.

Nodding, I run off to the lunch line to get my food.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Pokemon; To be Continued; As The Journey Continues!~~**

 _'At least lunch was satisfying enough to calm some of my nerves down... Ugh, that principal...what's up with him?'_

I try to come up with many possibilities as we all file out to recess.

"Macie?" A voice sucker punches me back into reality. It's Dipper and he's looking quite concerned. "What's wrong? You were really quiet during lunch and seemed...far away."

"Fine. Just thinking of ways to kill Mabel..." I say it so nonchalantly, Dipper flinches, takes a step back, regains his wits and then questions me. I chuckle and reply, "Not really, ya idiot. Mabel has been doing sneaky stuff having to do with Aiden behind my back and it's starting to get really annoying."

Sighing, my brother crosses his arms and visibly relaxes a bit. "Yeah... Mabel tends to do what she thinks is best. Remember Love God?"

"Don't remind me." We both laugh at the memory. "Also, Mabel said something about making sure you won't hide me this recess? She wants me to invite Aiden over to our house for avoiding him."

Smiling, the boy waves me off. "Eh, don't worry," he reassures me, "I'll hide you just like last time!"

"HeyDipperIneedyouforasecondsocomehererightnowhiMaciegoodbyeee!" Mabel comes out of nowhere and drags my brother away with a speed I've only seen Sonic The Hedgehog use.

"No-ah! Dipper- gah! UGH!" I stomp on the ground. "Ow..." My foot throbs from pounding the cement.

"Hey Mace!" I turn my head at the familiar voice and see my sister waving and making her way up to me like she didn't just steal our brother and probably tie him up somewhere.

"Mabel what did you do!?" I say through clenched teeth. She only giggles and stands in a cutesy way. **(Think of Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club when she stands with her hands behind her back as she leans one way. Got it? Great.)**

"Nothing! Just made sure Dipper won't be able to...intervene..." She leaves for a second but comes back just as quick with a boy being dragged behind. Of course, who else would it be besides Aiden?

"Uh...hey Macie..." He shyly waves to me. I don't wave back but glower at Mabel as I think, _'She actually did this! I can't believe she actually did this!'_

"Okay you two! Aiden, Macie... Macie, do what I said!" She shoves the poor kid towards me and then runs off. _'Did she just laugh evilly? Jeez...'_

"Uhh..." Aiden rubs his arm with uncertainty.

I shut my eyes, squeezing them tight and fist my hands. "Do you want to come over and hang at my house after school?" I ask all in one breath.

Squinting my left eye just a little bit to see the boy's face, I open them all the way when I see him smiling. "Y-yeah! Sure!" he excitedly accepts, and then sprints off when the bell rings.

I sigh deeply and get in line to go in.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Mabel- "Match MADE!"~~**

"Sorry I couldn't help you earlier, Mace..." Dipper sheepishly rubs the back of his neck as he apologizes.

"Whatever, if Mabel had an idea nothing was gonna come in between..." I roll my eyes as we climb the steps to the bus.

"Macie! Dipper!" Mabel instantly shoots her hand up in the air, waving us over to a seat she's saved. I sigh and lift my bag up my shoulder as it's sliding off a bit. "Look!" she says when we come over. I stand still in the aisle, shocked to see Aiden happily in the seat next to my sister. Dipper even has the decency to snort.

 _'He was so sympathetic earlier! That little-'_ I turn around and smack him. Not expecting it, he flies into the seat across and lands in it. Grumbling and picking himself up, he looks away and leans on the window.

"Mabel, how did you even get him on the bus? Wouldn't he have to ask his parents? Get permission from _our_ parents?" I ask in a tone that shows I'm completely done with this day.

Chuckling nervously in a way I feel like I should be worrying, Mabel stands up, "Don't worry about it!"

I don't buy it. "Uh huh..." I take the spot Mabel left me as she moves over to Dipper.

"Hey, Macie! I'm excited to hang out! Mabel was telling me all about it." My eyebrow quirks at this boy's comment.

 _'Just how much did the woman say to him?'_

"Uh, okay." _'What the heck am I supposed to say!?'_

He chortles, "Anyway," I see that he goes into his phone, so I go into mine, "I saw this quote online and I thought it was pretty cool. Wanna hear it?"

"Mmm sure..." I reply without paying attention.

"Okay, here goes-" I space out after the first one. Something about life and stuff. But the last one. The last one caught me so off guard, I almost fell out of the bus seat.

"S-say that again?" I ask shakily.

"Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, bye!" Aiden laughs.

I glance to the twins. They didn't seem to have heard.

I gulp the huge lump that formed so hard it hurts my throat on the way down.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: That squirrel you passed on the way home!~~**

When we all get home, I learned that Mabel _didn't_ ask our parents for permission. _'I mean, the way she made me and him wait outside while she dragged Dipper in with a pleading look on her face? How did she expect me_ _ **not**_ _to realize what is going on?!'_

"Okay guys! Come on in!" Shooting Star pokes her head out the door and beckons us. Sighing, I leave the younger boy in my dust as I'm eager to get inside and go to my room. "Macie? Invite him into our room!" Mabel harshly whispers, somehow nicely glaring at me.

"I don't want to!"

"You have to!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"I don't!"

"Do it!"

"No!"

"Yes! Here he comes!"

"I'm not gonna- Hey! Aiden, wanna come up to my room?" Silently yelling in victory, Mabel makes a bunch of poses and runs all the way up the stairs. _'I can hear her silent shouts...'_

"Sure! Thanks!" Aiden accepts the invitation and climbs the steps with me. I lead him to our room and open the door, finding Mabel already in there as she spins around in my computer chair.

"Mabel get off!" I glower at the teen. Aiden takes it upon himself to find a seat on my bed. _'Did he guess? How did he know which was whose?'_

"So, uh, do you kids still play cards?" he asks. _'Weird...'_

"You do know you're younger than us, right?" I raise an eyebrow. He goes stiff and his cheeks burn bright pink.

"Uh- well, yeah I know that but I was- heh..." His splutters die down into garbled gibberish until eventually he just stops talking all together.

I decide to ignore him for the time being and push Mabel out of my chair. She lands on the ground with an "Oof!" and a pout directed towards me. I laugh as she crawls to her own bed and jumps up onto it.

"Now what?" I ask her, my hands splaying in the air.

"What? Do something with him! Hang out!" The girl takes out one of her scrapbooks and opens it to a page. "We can show him our summer!"

"NO!" I slam the book shut hastily and turn to see what Aiden's doing. Good, he's just looking around and inspecting the room. "Put that thing away!" I demand as she only giggles and does what I said.

"So, wanna play that really old card game? I think it's called Go Fish?" Aiden holds up a deck of cards.

"Where?" I trail off.

"I brought 'em!" he answers simply. I roll my eyes but agree to play. He childishly hoorahs and slides down onto the carpet, pulling the cards out and tossing the box. "Alright!" He rubs his hands together and starts dealing.

"Woo!" Mabel crosses her legs and joins us.

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _10-3-12_

 _The entire time Aiden was in our house, I've had this strange feeling. Mabel didn't seem to notice and if she did, she didn't show it. Dipper was in his room most of the time. I have a feeling Mabel had something to do with it. Oh well. What's weird is how he was talking. And when we were playing Go Fish, he said something that chilled me to the bone._

 _Maybe I'm just imagining things? Maybe he didn't say what I thought he said._

 _He laughed when Mabel thought she won. Sure it was all in good fun...but what he said afterwards...I don't think I'll forget it anytime soon._

 _"Haha! It's funny how dumb you are! Don't worry, I'm kidding Mabel!"_

 _Macie~~_


	12. Operation Find Bill!

**Friday, October 5th 2012**

William 'Bill' Rehpic. Changed the school mascot to The Pyramids. Eerily eyes me when he can.

I drop my pencil, wondering how I didn't figure this out sooner.

"Our principal is Bill Cipher!" I scream. Then I wince since I forgot that it's 4 in the morning.

 _'But what about Aiden?! Did Bill just put him there to easily keep tabs on us? Maybe he paid the kid to say what he said...'_

"Ngh...Mac..cie?" Mabel yawns, blearily rubbing her sleepy eyes as I slowly turn away from facing her in my computer chair.

"Nothing! Shh!" I put a finger to my lips, "Go back to sleep!" I scribble on the paper I was jotting my thoughts down on.

 _'I can't raise any alarms! Maybe I'm just really tired and not thinking straight! Y-yeah, that's gotta be it! Bill can't actually be back! C-can he?'_

My stomach starts to flip as I suddenly don't feel so hot. Actually, I'm sweating. So, throwing my pencil across the room in frustration, ignoring Mabel's gasp, I quickly get out of my suffocating room and move into the bathroom, sitting on its cold, tiled floor.

Since the whole house is silent, my ears pick up movement from down the hall. I assume it's my sister getting up and going to see where I went. Sighing, my thoughts run wildly. They don't seem to wanna die down anytime soon, so I'm stuck on the floor for the time being until my panic attack can lessen.

Surprisingly enough, especially with school and everything, I haven't had a panic attack ever since I came back with the twins. And the thing that's riling me up is the thought of Bill coming back.

 _'That's ridiculous!'_ I have to tell myself, even though the sweet nothings I say don't do anything anyways.

A light knock interrupts my boggling thoughts, _'Thank goodness!'_ "Macie? You in there? What's wrong?" Mabel's sweet and caring voice raises a couple octaves with each question.

"Uh..." _'I can't lie even if I wanted to...'_ I sigh, "...No, I'm not alright. Kinda freaking out here." With not as much as a warning, the door opens, albeit slowly but hastily, and a long haired brunette tip-toes in with concern lacing her eyes.

Her eyes dart to me on the floor. Sighing, she crosses her arms to hug herself as it's a little chilly in the bathroom and she's only wearing a night gown, and crosses her legs with me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong, Mace?"

"Pretty sure I'm having a panic attack, haha, I dunno." Trying to take my mind off things, chuckling and what not, sometimes helps with my nausea.

The teen tsks, pulling me closer. "Why? What's wrong? You have been doing so well!"

"Yeah well, I think I've come to a conclusion to all the confusion I've been having revolving around school...and now that I do, it scares me to death because I might just be right!" Should I really keep this information in? Thor knows what happened last time I kept a secret!

 _'Maybe the twins can help me? No, no, wait, what about Mabel's PTSD with the color pink? I mean, she's been doing better but if one whole thing is fully pink, she won't look at it. Dipper...Dipper might and probably will take this way out of proportion. I don't even know if I'm one hundred percent sure of my claims!'_

"Do you want me to get your inhaler? Any medicine? Then get Dipper and talk about this?" she asks, rubbing my back.

"I-I-I-don't think I need my inhaler...but maybe talking to you both about it is good. Yeah, both of you..." I trail off, suddenly not remembering what I was thinking about.

"Kay," the girl whispers, grabbing hold of my hand and assisting me up to my feet.

 _'Everything's dizzy-!'_ Feeling sick, I break out of Mabel's grip, surprising me since she's got such a tight one, and sprint to the bathroom, slamming the door shut. I don't have time to think about the way I ripped from Mabel or the way she recoiled with a shocked expression.

I can only think of not throwing up as I hang my head over an open toilet bowl. Breathing heavily and loudly, I don't hear the door opening once more. "Macie?" A new voice startles me. Although I recognized it immediately, it still throws me off guard.

 _'I should have expected Mabel would go get Dipper...'_ I groan when Dipper pats my back pitifully.

With a drained, fatigued glance, I ask my sister, who is sitting to the left of me, "Just...get me some water, please?"

"Of course!" She stands up and leaves in two large strides, leaving only me and an awkward, sweaty teen alone in the bathroom. _'Came out more descriptive and not weird in my head...'_

Shutting my eyes, I try to even my breathing, hoping maybe that'll help with...well, everything at this point. Dipper silently gives me support by rubbing my back. I can tell he's biting back questions by the way he's nibbling on his bottom lip.

The dizziness dies down a smidgen, enough so that I can look my siblings in the eye. Mabel hands over a bottle of water and I greedily swallow a large sum of it. "Kay... I need some melatonin..." Mostly thinking out loud, I can't help but wonder if this world has some sleep medicine. _'I'm sure it does, everything else is pretty normal...'_

"Mela-" Dipper gets cut off.

"-tonin?" as Mabel finishes the word.

"Sleep pills, make you sleepy," I explain. They both 'O' and nod at the same time.

"Come on, Mace, let's get you back to bed." I get grabbed by strong hands _'Mabel...'_ and dragged back to my bed.

"Ugh.." I groan, getting in the covers. Mabel joins me while Dipper sits on the end. They look at me expectantly. "So...I might have come to a conclusion." No one speaks or moves. "So you know how me and you got strange vibes from the new principal, right?" My eyes lock with Dipper's. He nods.

"Yeah."

"Well, I couldn't sleep from all the anxiety I've been getting from him lately. So not being able to sleep, I jotted down my thoughts and came to a terrifying conclusion- but I'm not even sure I'm right! So don't freak out!" Eyebrows raise.

"What, what's wrong?" Mabel's patience is thinning by the sound of her voice.

"William 'Bill' Rehpic. Spelled backwards from Cipher." The brunette's hands immediately cover her mouth in shock.

Our brother's face goes stiff and stern before he stands up and paces around our room. "That...no way... No way that- it has to be- no of course it's not a coincidence! Our principal is Bill Cipher?! Bu-but how!?"

"Exactly! But get this! Yesterday, Aiden said a couple things that completely made my body shiver. He said he found a quote online and read it to me. It was Bill's quote about reality being an illusion!"

"What!?" I ignore Mabel's garbled mumbles.

"Plus! Mabel, when we were playing cards the other day, didn't you notice the choice of words?! He said, 'You kids still play cards, right?' AND THEN he said, 'Haha, it's funny how dumb you are, Mabel!" Of course he played it off as a joke but I am so confused and everything seems like it's falling apart!" My voice deepens with sadness and frustration as I lay back in bed with utmost defeat.

"Oh man..." Dipper puts his hand on his forehead. _'Is Mabel sweating? Maybe I said too much...'_

"I'm sorry guys, I shouldn't have said anything. I'm not even sure about anything anymore!"

"No it's okay, Macie, we're glad you told us," my brother reassures. "But now that this is happening, we need to work together to figure it out. The Mystery Triplets are back and we'll solve this one, okay? Just don't worry, if Bill really is back, then we'll grab him and question him!"

"Yeah! We'll make that isosceles monster wish he never stepped foot on our turf!" I smile when our sister's usual mood comes rolling back in.

"Thanks, guys, I feel a lot better." My stomach isn't doing kart wheels anymore. Smiling, Dipper mouths a goodnight and exits our room. Mabel snuggles in close and gets comfy.

 _'I should have figured she would stay...'_ Oh well. I smile deeply, sinking in the fluffy blankets and falling into a blissful sleep.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: The above is how my panic attacks happen. Sitting on the bathroom floor, drinking water and taking a pill. Dizziness is the worst and when it goes down, I try to relax and go to sleep~~**

"You ready?" I pull my backpack strap over my shoulder as it slips down.

"Nope," I reply to my brother, who just chuckles and climbs the bus stairs.

"Come on, I'll be right by you all day...except when I have to go to class we're not in together..." I roll my eyes but smile.

"Yeah, so reassuring." He punches my shoulder but laughs as well.

"Well don't worry 'cuz I'll be with you all day!" Mabel jabs her thumb into her chest with a haughty puff of air.

"Except for that one class you have without me?"

"Ehehe...yeah..." I give the girl a big hug as to tell her it's okay and I was just joking. Her cheerful attitude comes back full throttle as she tackles me into the seat.

"So, Dipper, you're gonna keep an eye out for the principal without being seen, right?" He nods. "Kay, good, and Mabel and I will keep an eye on Aiden for any weird stuff. At the end of the day, we'll go over what we gathered."

"Yes!" Mabel's enthusiasm is contagious as Dipper copies what she does.

"Operation 'Find Bill Cipher' is a go!" We all put our hands in together and Dipper cheers us off, "Woo!"

 _'I have a feeling that today's going to be a good day!'_

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: The nuisance of finding a new time skip~~**

The entire day has been eerily calm. And I don't like it... The principal hasn't been seen by Mabel or myself, so I hope Dipper's gotten sight of him. _'Crap!'_ The bell suddenly rings, startling me into jumping and dropping my composition book.

"Haha, need some help? Whoops! I forgot I don't help losers! Haha," Nathan walks by, snottily laughing. I'm so honestly not in the mood right now, but I won't let him get to me.

So, I don't say anything and just bend down to pick up my things. Noticing my silence, Nathan stops walking and turns around. "Hey!" he points right at me, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Cuz I'm on a mission right now and don't have time to humor you. Excuse me." A couple kids "Ooo!" at my response as I go to walk by the bully.

He stops me, hitting me back up against a locker. The students who previously taunted, gasp. Wincing from the impact, I keep my eyes off of him. "Hey!" He pushes me harder, making me drop my books once again. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

I have no other choice but to look at him unless I want to get more hurt, so that's exactly what I do, though I try not stare at his hideous teeth as he grins triumphantly.

"Now that I got your full attention," Nathan's grin grows impossibly wider, "hows about you-!"

"Leave her alone, Nathan." Everything goes quiet as Aiden walks up the hall towards us, his hands shoved in his coat pocket nonchalantly. _'He looks super different than last I saw him but I can't pinpoint what it is...'_

"Yeah? And why should I do what you say?" Nathan sneers.

Aiden leers something awful, so bad it makes the boy holding me falter in his grip. "Do you have any idea how I am? When. I'm. Mad?" _**(At this point, the editor can only think about what Soos said to this- "I guess he gets mad when he gets mad.")**_ The whole atmosphere seems to darken at this. I can feel this brute shaking as he holds me against the locker, still.

He finally relinquishes his hold and runs off. My eyes are still wide by what the heck just happened.

Taking a deep breath, I just stare at the kid that may or may not be an extreme cartoon villain. He just chuckles, "You alright? Sorry, Nathan can be a real jerk sometimes."

I don't trust my voice, so I just nod.

"Cool. So, wanna hang out again today? I can see you have _lots_ of question," he drawls out 'lots' with a sly smile.

I frown, my confidence returning in full stride. "Yes, you're coming over and we're gonna have a little talk!"

"Haha, I wondered how long it'd take you guys!" Putting his hand to his face, Aiden _'?'_ mumbles, "Kinda thought Dipper would figure it out first...but oh well!" The warning bell rings again. Aiden looks up to the ceiling and then back at me with another creepy smile. "Welp! Better get to class! Catch ya later, Ring!"

I don't make it to class on time.

 **No diary entry today**

 **Don't worry, all questions will be asked! If you want anything asked specifically, let me know!**

 _ **Editor's note- I'm totally freakin' out right now! So freaking happy that Bill is back!**_


	13. All Triagonal Signs Point To Bill

**It's your boy Stingy out here with all that is his XD (If no one gets this... You have no YouTube life)**

 **Sorry not sorry.**

 **Dude, 13 chapters and we already hit over 110 reviews. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your reviews make me so happy when I see that the count has gone up, so even if you have ONE thing to say, please say it because I'd love to hear!**

 **Friday, October 5th 2012**

"I haven't seen the principal at all today since only a little while ago and he was acting pretty weird," Dipper recalls his day with us as we meet up in the hallway after P.E. The entire time in that class, however, I couldn't focus as my eyes were pretty much on Aiden the whole time.

"Yeah, well, don't worry, I got it all figured out." The twins look at me expectantly. "Aiden is Bill." I hold my breath.

"WHA-?!" Dipper quickly covers Mabel's mouth to not rouse suspicion.

"Macie? What!?" he asks quieter.

"Yeah!" I tell them the entirety of my story and their jaws hit the floor at about the same time when I recall Aiden getting mad. "He's coming over today, by the way."

"No. No way! He's not getting close to any of us. Oh and Nathan is gonna have another thing coming, too! How dare he slam you up against a locker!" Dipper growls, glaring at the wall.

"Dude, stop, there's nothing you can do to Nathan with those noodle arms," the face he gives me almost makes me chuckle, but I hold it in, "and Bill has to come over so we can ask him questions and what not!"

"Macie, I don't think-!" The school bell rings, interrupting the boy and causing all the students in the hall to leave. It's like a sea of children there's so many people here! "Gah! Macie? Mabel!?" I can see Dipper's hat from up in front of the line while Mabel and I are stuck back here.

"Mabel, stay together, kay?" I turn to face her but see that her figure has completely disappeared. "Oh come on!" I don't even care anymore as I just let myself get dragged by the river of kids.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: "A-X-O-L-O-T-L! My time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!" -Bill Cipher~~**

The bus ride home? Oh boy was _that_ fun. _'At least Mabel was on my side.'_ She tried keeping Dipper's voice down and calm since he wouldn't stop asking me questions. I could tell my female twin had many things to ask, too, but I'm glad she bit them back.

At one point, she shoved him. I couldn't have NOT laughed at his ridiculous form and body as his limbs hang awkwardly in the aisle of the bus. Though he just groans, grumbles some incoherent words, and sits back down, he _does_ finally stop badgering me which I'm thankful for.

"We're home!" Mabel breaks the ten minute long silence, jumping up and slinging her sticker and glitter covered backpack over her shoulders and pushing passed Dipper to run down the middle and out the doors.

The boy sighs and goes after her, mumbling something about her being way too comfortable with what's happening.

 _'At least Bill doesn't ride this bus...'_ I take one more glance at the vehicle and then walk across the street. Mabel is doing jumping jacks at the front door while Dipper just face palms. I giggle a little. _'How can I not? Mabel is just so...Mabel!'_

"Your room. Now," my brother says sternly but I can hear his voice waver with worry. I don't blame him. I'm terrified, too.

When we get up to the hallway, right before our bedroom, Dipper tosses his backpack down the hall to his room. It lands with a loud thud. "What the heck is in your backpack?" I ask, standing still and staring.

"Books. Lots of 'em." His voice tells me not to ask any more questions, so I don't. _'Although I should, just to spite him for what he did on the bus... Nah, I shouldn't, he looks extremely stressed.'_

"So, what do we do?" the female brunette questions as she buzzes around the room wildly. She picks up Waddles who was laying on... _'Why was he on_ _ **my**_ _bed!?'_ and throws him in the air, catching the livestock when he falls and twirling him around.

 _'Oh, I see. Chat Noir and Waddles were cuddling on my bed... wait, what the heck?'_ I assume that's what they were doing since Chat is now sitting up and stretching from what I believe was that cuddle session.

"Mabel, please don't let Waddles on my bed!" I pick my cat up and sit down on my mattress, putting him back down on my lap. He meows at me and jumps off, running out the cracked door. I sigh and lay back.

"Aw come on, Macie, Chat and him are such good friends!" She pouts, scrunching up her pig's cheeks in a pout, too. I roll my eyes.

"Guys! We're missing the bigger picture here!" Pine Tree cries, throwing his hands up, "Bill is Aiden... Bill is BACK. Bill is... he's-"

"Right here?"

"GAH!" We all scream in surprise when Bill appears right behind us, pivoting in my computer chair.

We're all too shocked to say anything or do anything...well, except Mabel. She instantly throws Waddles at the boy and, while he splutters and catches the pig in surprise, the teenager launches herself at the demon and tackles him to the floor.

"What the heck, Shooting Star!?" Bill struggles against my sister's weight. "Ahh!" He shuts his eyes and extends his hands to the air, making sure to tilt his head to the side.

Everything goes quiet for a moment before little puffs of blue smoke appear above the two on the floor. After each puff of smoke follows a squeaky toy. Specifically a rubber bone dog chew that squeals each time one appears and rains down upon the kids.

"What the actual-" Dipper, finally gaining movement with his own arms, covers my mouth.

"Ah! I'm getting attacked by dog toys!" Mabel shrieks, covering the top of her head with both arms and getting off of Bill.

"Ha!" the dream demon triumphs.

"What the heck!?" I push passed my weak brother and jab the seventh grader in the chest. "What was that? How did you get in here!?"

Bill pumps his hands."Whoa, whoa, calm down, kids. One question at a time!"

"Oh! Me first! Me first!" My male twin and I face palm at the same time. "Um, so...what the heck was with all the dog toys!?"

"Seriously, Mabel!? That's the first question you ask!?" Said girl smiles sheepishly back at us. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Dipper turns to Bill, "Bill. What the heck are you doing back? We destroyed you! What do you want from us!?"

"Sheesh, Pine Tree, chill. If I wanted to do something to you guys, don'tcha think I'd already have done it?"

"Alright. So talk." I glare.

"Where do I start? Let's see... Oh! So, when you Pines got the best of me, which, I'll admit, was really clever, I did a little chanting and what not and then poof, I was gone when Fez punched me in the eye!"

"Nice going Stan!" Dipper smiles. Mabel and I laugh, sharing a high five.

"Wish I could have seen it..." The girl frowns.

"Don't worry, you'll see it." I wink and she gasps, hugging me.

"Uh, hello? Famous dream demon telling a story over here?!" Bill looks like a little kid pouting. His arms are on his hips and everything! I clear my throat and return attention to him. " _Anyway_ , I thought I was a goner for sure but I then I poofed in a room full of water! There was a giant AXOLOTL and bla bla bla it said something about me reedeming myself, having a second chance."

"Th-the AXOLOTL? It...it gave me a choice of returning home or waking up back here..."

"Probably same AXOLOTL, then." Bill shrugs.

"Wait. Macie, the AXOLOTL that gave you the choice to stay here- after Bill had _killed_ you-" Dipper growls and glares at the boy, who shrinks down a bit and waves awkwardly, "gave him a second chance just like you?!"

"Well I did invoke the ancient power that I may return... I called out for the AXOLOTL and it responded." Aiden shrugs nonchalantly.

"Great. Now we got you to deal with. What are you gonna do now that we figured you out? Gouge out our eyeballs?" I stare at my brother with a horrifying imagination.

"Nah. I can't really do anything. All I can do is summon things- like those rubber squeak thingys- and teleport, but not far."

"That's how you randomly showed up in our room!" Mabel giggles, spinning in my chair. _'Is she not taking any of this seriously?!'_

"It sucks, too! Cuz I wanted to come back with full power! Stupid animal took everything away except for the two things I _can_ do..." I sigh and glower.

"Well thank goodness for that! Who knows what you would have done if it just revived you! Revenge on us Pines, perhaps?" Aiden laughs, taking a seat on Mabel's bed. She growls and points to the floor. _'Guess she is taking this seriously...'_

I almost laugh at Bill's wide eyes at Mabel being so aggressive. "Well, that was my first plan... Get close to you, and then destroy you!" Dipper shields me and puts me behind him. Cackling maniacally, the triangle now human _'?'_ continues, "Buuuut after hanging around you guys for a while and seeing all the new things in this world, I kinda decided I didn't want to anymore!"

Eyebrows raised, arms crossed, Dipper speaks skeptically, "And how can we believe you?"

"Well. I _have_ been trying to get on your good side, Ring." I get taken aback. "You know, being shy, trying to be your friend?"

"But then why...why did you start dropping hints of who you really were?" _'Like, seriously?!'_

"Eh, I got bored. Plus, you ignoring me like the plague got annoying."

"And so now you think I _won't_ be ignoring you even more?"

"Nope! Now that you know, you can't get rid of me!"

"But- but what about the stupid principal!?"

With a snap of his fingers, a wad of cash lands in Aiden's hand. "It's hilarious what people will do for this green stuff!"

Mabel giggles, Dipper sighs, and I face palm again.

"So the principal stuff was all a ploy? What- to make us paranoid?" Dipper asks what I was thinking.

Bill shrugs, "Yeah, pretty much."

"I can't believe this..." Waddles walks up to me, oinks, and rubs my leg with his head. I bend down and pick him up, hugging his large, pink body.

"So. Why are you a seventh grader in Piedmont going by the name Aiden?" Mabel's legs swing as she tilts her head.

"It's what that freakish fish gave me. It sucks that I'm younger, too! Come on! I'm a trillion year old dream demon put into a flesh bag of a body and forced to go to school by these older adults who won't leave me alone!"

"You mean your parents?" It's getting harder to stifle any laughter bubbling up my throat.

"What? If you mean old, meat puppets that force food down my throat and make me go to sleep at nine-thirty? Then yeah, I guess they're parents."

I let it out. This is too great. "Hahahahahaha! Bill. You're a, what? Twelve year old kid? You have two parents, a mom and dad, right?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"They take care of you and you have to do what they say because you're their child!"

"But they keep forcing food down my throat and making me brush my teeth and making me go to sleep!" Bill whines like a child. To my right, I see Dipper finally breaking and bursting into laughter.

"Bill, do you not need to eat or sleep?" Mabel points out.

"I _can_ but I don't _like_ to. Last time I poured this- what was it- lemonade in my eyes they stung for hours!" This time, Mabel breaks, doubling over and falling out of my chair clutching her stomach.

"Oh man, this is too much!" My laughter dies down to small chuckles as I wipe my eyes of tears.

"Kids! Dinner!" Mom's voice calls from down stairs.

"Crap! Is it that late already?" I throw my jacket down and take off the shoes I forgot to remove when coming home.

"Okay- uh, Bill- we gotta go so _go home_!" Dipper keeps his pointer finger on Bill the entire time as he exits our room.

"Did he just leave us by ourselves in a room with Bill Cipher?" Mabel walks up to me.

"Yes. Yes he did..." I turn around. "Seriously, Bill, go home! We're gonna talk about this tonight and we'll get back to you at school, kay?"

"But today's Friday and school doesn't start until Mondaaayyy and then I'll have to wait and be home with my dumb parents the entire tiiiiime and then on Sunday they'll make me go to this weird building with the letter t on the front and every time I go in it makes me feel weirrrrrddd!"

 _'Oh my gosh this demon is a literal child...'_

"Bill, oh my gosh, that's called a church!" Mabel runs off the moment Mom calls us again. "Just- go home! Come over sometime tomorrow!" He pouts but snaps his fingers while looking away. In a flash of blue light, Bill's gone.

I breathe a sigh of relief and descend downstairs for dinner.

Did we really have to have nachos?

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Marco's Super Awesome Nachos! (Star Vs The Forces Of Evil)~~**

"Honestly? I think he's harmless." The three of us hang out in Dipper's room at a late time of 11:45 pm. We've been talking for a while now and only just gotten to deciding what to do with Aiden...er, Bill.

"How could you think that!? This could all be some- some trick!" Dipper rebuts my comment. "Do you honestly think Bill Cipher, dream demon, bringer of the apocalypse, wants to be our friend?"

Mouth stiff, I nod. He smacks his forehead. "Dip look, I know I can't know anything about anything in this universe anymore, but what I'm saying is this- that if the AXOLOTL gave me a second chance and then gave HIM a second chance... we should respect its decision, right?"

"But Bill- he might-!"

"Plus! Did you see his pout-y face? It was so cute!" Mabel gushes, scrunching her cheeks together.

"Also, trust me. I've seen so many fan fictions where Bill comes back after the show and he's practically like he is now." _'Maybe that'll ease him?'_

"Okay, so in fan fiction universe, a lot of stories has Bill returning after Gravity Falls is over and doing what? Plotting revenge?!" _'Guess not...'_

"No. He usually comes and bugs you guys and learns about the world he tried to destroy. I might have one saved, hang on." I dive into my computer and log into my account. Scrolling down to favorites, I check for any that might fit the appropriate criteria.

"Well?" I can feel my sister breathing down my neck.

"Huh. Guess I never favorited the ones I've read. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I say we just keep our eyes open for anything if he seems to want to do anything malicious? Yeah?"

Dipper grumbles, "Whatever..."

"I think it could be fun! But, we should definitely make him apologize for what he did!"

"I agree with Mabel, that'd actually be pretty funny, right?"

"Maybe... But we can't let Great Uncle Ford know about this! He'd flip!"

"Fine, fine, whatever you say Dippin' Dots!" I chuckle and punch him in the shoulder. He winces and whines, rubbing the sore.

"Now. Who wants to see my journal three?!"

"Oo ooooo, meee!" I laugh at his excited squeals, completely out of character.

"Alright. Look, this is the place where we learned all about Ford's adventure in the portal for thirty years."

The twins "Ooo" and "Awe!".

For the rest of the night, my siblings and I laugh and reminiscence on my journal, sharing stories.

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _10-6-12_

 _Oh man, did we have a long day yesterday? Bill's back. I guess this really is like a fan fiction now, hah!_

 _Dipper is pretty skeptical about everything but- that's kinda what I expected._

 _Mabel is excited to show Bill her sweaters- said something about making him one? I'm totally going to show her fan art of her with Bill wearing a yellow sweater with a black brick pattern!_

 _Honestly? I hope everything turns out alright. Maybe it's just THIS universe but what if Bill came back because I did? I hope I don't cause anything bad to happen because of my choice._

 _I wouldn't change it for anything._

 _Macie~~_

 **Funnest chapter I've written. Actually laughed hard at how I wrote Bill XD**


	14. Pum-Pumpkin Catnip Cannon!

**Saturday, October 6th**

"Did you know I've always wanted an animal that's attached to me by the hip?" I randomly ask my brother as I sit on his bed, petting my cat who has sauntered in and made himself comfy on my lap.

"Er...no?" he replies, not looking away from my laptop he's currently using. _'Wanted to try all the routes on Undertale and wouldn't stop pleading until I gave in...'_

"Well, I always have... and now I got one!" For emphasis, I scratch under Chat Noir's chin, making his purrs increase.

"Must be nice..." I barely hear the teen's mumble over my pet's rumbling.

"What's wrong?"

Dipper turns and looks at me. "Nothing, it's just that you have Chat and Mabel has Waddles... I got...books..." Sighing, he goes back to his game.

"Now hold on!" My mind goes blank. "Oh, right, at the very beginning of Gravity Falls, we see Mabel playing with a black cat? Where's that cat? I actually haven't seen it the entire time here. Is that weird? Am I going crazy or did Mabel not actually have a cat?"

The brunette chuckles, nodding, "No, no, we do have another cat. Her name's Blair. I asked about her the day we got back but Mom said someone was taking care of her for the month for some sort of volunteer work or something? I'm not sure."

"Convenient..." I say to myself and then speak up, "So then what's the prob? Mabel got her pig and you and I got cats!"

"The 'prob' is that Blair _hates_ me." I gasp.

"No way! I haven't met her but there's no way she hates you!" His face falters with a disinterested look. "Oh come on!" I try, "How could anyone hate you?"

"Macie. I can give you... about three people who hate me. And Blair's number one on that list." Standing up, disrupting Chat's nap, I march over to my brother and, not really, slam my laptop lid down, shocking and startling him.

He gives me an abashed look, "Mace, what the heck?!"

"I'm gonna help you bond with Blair so that you have a pet for yourself like I have mine and Mabel has hers."

He sighs, taking off his hat and running a hand though his messy brown mop, "I really don't think that'd work. It's a nice gesture- really- I just don't think it's necessary."

"Too late. Already formed a plan." I grin and run out of the room, then, turning around, I swiftly run _back_ into the room, grab my laptop, and _then_ exit for good.

From inside my room, I can hear the groans and moans of despair by Dipper Pines himself.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Writing chapters in reverse!~~**

"Mom?" I wander the house in search for any parental figure.

"Out here!" I hear her voice call from outside. The back door's open.

I walk up to her working in her garden yet again. _'It's October, aren't plants supposed to not be able to grow? What the heck did I just think?'_

"Hey, where's Blair and where can I get her and when?"

"Well the next door neighbor, Alise? Yeah she took Blair at the beginning of September for some work she needed. She's been cat-sitting the entire month and is supposed to bring her back this month... that girl," Mom chuckles, sitting up and wiping dirt off her gloved hands, "always losing track of time."

"Heh...yeah..." _'I mean, do I know this neighbor on a personal level?'_

"Do you want to go over and see if you can take her back?"

"O-oh! No, no, that's okay!" I refuse, backing up. "Bye!"

I sprint into the family room, where Mabel is watching some Dream Boy High. "Mabel, what do you know about uh...uh...Alise?"

She only blinks, probably taking in my question, then pauses her movie and sits up so she's not on her stomach while her legs kick behind her back. "Alise? Not much except she pretends to be nice to Mom and Dad to get things done for herself. Sometimes she babysits us but," she shrugs, "I guess she's not _that_ bad. She has her nice days."

"Well she took Blair at the beginning of September and was supposed to bring her sometime early _October_ but uh, no Blair. You see," I lean in with a hand to my mouth, "Dipper is a little upsetti that he doesn't have an animal close to him sooo..." As I tell Mabel my entire plan, her eyes only get wider and her grin shows more and more teeth.

"That sounds AMAZING! I'm so in!" Her giddiness dies down in an instant as she makes a point, "But wait... isn't Bill coming over today?"

"Oh shoot!" I make a stance like I'm ready for battle. "That's right. I gotta go talk to Dipper!"

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: *Ding dong***

 ***Answers door***

 **"Bill scout cookies! How many can I write yuh down for?"**

 **(Please help me)~~**

"I told him to go home and we'll talk about it on Monday! Not for you to have invited him over the _very next day!_ "

"Dipper- oh come on, you're being absurd! Bill's not used to...well everything! Plus he looks really cute when he pouts," I make a face that only makes my brother groan. "Besides," I put my hands up in a whatever manner, "we're not doing anything today anyway."

"Heya!"

"Gosh diddly darn what in the world-!" I jump back, my legs comically going in the air from surprise as Bill appears smack dab in the middle of Dipper's room.

Said boy growls and glares, "Bill, you can't just show up here at any given time!"

Genuinely confused, Bill asks, "Wait, what? Why not?" _'Ladies and gentleman, I give you Bill Cipher, a being made of pure energy with no weaknesses and who brought upon the apocalypse.'_

"Bill- ugh- seriously?" Dipper groans and pinches the bridge of his nose, shaking his noggin.

"You, uh," chortling, I try to keep my posture, "you can't just appear out of nowhere. You have to knock on the front door and be invited in. What do you think we'd tell our parents if a kid just randomly showed up in their home?"

Bill seems to ponder this for a moment. "I don't really see the problem here." The demon obviously didn't get it...

"No! Just- poof outside and knock like a normal person and we'll invite you in!"

"Alright alright, sheesh Pine Tree, are you always this rude?" I laugh as Dipper doesn't get a chance to retort by the time Bill has already 'poofed' out of the room.

Almost instantaneously, the door bell rings.

"I got it!" Mabel's voice bounces against the walls. By the time we get down stairs, Mabel has already let Bill in. _'What does he-?'_ I squint my eyes to try and decipher what on earth he could possibly be holding when, _'Oh my gosh is that a cat!?'_

"Guys! Some lady came up to me and asked if I lived here and so I said no but I'm going inside so she said here take this and give it back to the Pines and so now I have this cat!"

My brother and I stand there, not sure what to do. Mabel gushes and picks the cat up, tossing it in the air and cooing. "How's Blair? Oh I hope you were a good girl!"

Pointing to the cat, I ask, "Wait, that's Blair?"

"Yeah..." Dipper sighs, putting his hands in his face.

Bill puts his hands on his hips and puffs his chest out. "Anyway, how was that for being normal?"

"Great," I speak with boredom, which does not go over well with the demon, as he looks completely dejected from the lack of praise. "Uh, Bill, I forgot you were coming and I already made plans with the twins about doing something with that cat..." I trail off, ending with me petting the blackish-purple cat.

"Uh...so? I don't know what plan it is- I'm in!" the kid declares, throwing his arms up with a smile.

Before I can say anything, Dipper cuts in front of me, "No no no! That's okay, just stay home!"

"No way! Those people are so annoying! Bossy, too." He crosses his arms with a pout. "Just being here is funner! So what are the plans?"

I elbow Dipper, causing him to reflexively cower into himself. "It's fine. Maybe you can help. Can you summon some... catnip? No no, wait, maybe that'll be better to use later." _'Think! How can I get Blair to like Dipper? Wait I got it!'_

"Mace?" Mabel brings me back to reality.

"Sorry, uh- anyway! First, we should see why Blair doesn't like you, Dipper." The boy only groans while rolling his eyes.

Bill pushes in front of my brother and me, generating a growl from the former. "Wait. What are we doing?"

"I have my cat. Mabel has Waddles. Dipper should have someone, too, you know?" I explain, which only seems to add a mischievous glint into the triangle's...eyes.

"I can be that someone!"

"No."

"No!"

"NO!"

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: No, I don't ship them. Yes, my editor does...*Le sigh*(Editor- *Giggity*)~~**

"Okay, first test. Can you pet her? Heck, can you get near her?" We start off by placing Blair on the living room floor as we sit around her in a circle.

"Yeah..? Come on, Macie, it's not like she attacks me for _looking_ at her."

"Hey, I'm just asking! S'not like I would _know_..."

"ANYWAY!" Mabel throws herself between the tension and puts us back on track. "Dipper can pet her and sit next to her- though she usually just moves- but he can't pick her up. She'll either hiss or scratch. Dunno why..."

"Thank you, Mabel." I smile at my sister and then glare at my brother for being annoying. And in the middle, I can see Bill sitting stiff and awkward, looking like he doesn't know what to do.

 _'Heh, that's funny..'_

"'Kay, Bill," said boy stiffens at his name, "can you summon a cat toy?"

"What kind? Wait, what do they look like?" The three of us groan and face palm simultaneously.

 **~~Time Jump~~**

"Well that only took _two hours_..." I silently agree with Mabel as she flops backwards onto the ground.

In just that amount of time, we got Blair to be comfortable with Dipper _holding_ her. What the heck do we do if we want her to be attached to him?!

"Why can't we just shower Pine Tree in that- that cat drug you were talking about earlier?"

"Dude," I laugh then stop and stare, "Actually..."

"No! Macie, no!" Dipper stands up and starts to back away.

I wink at Mabel and she stands up as well, sneaking behind Dipper as he's too distracted keeping his eyes on me. "Bill?" He hums in response. "Mind summoning a rope?" One maniac laugh later and I've got a rope in my hand.

"Ack! Mabel let me go!" Dipper struggles against our sister's strength.

Not even seconds later, Dipper is completely tied up and looking angry. Not to mention doused in catnip.

Blair seems to like it, though. "Yay! She's rubbing up on you!" I giddily clap my hands. "Mabel, let's go get some victory lemonade!"

"Yeah! Victory-ade! Victor-ade?"

"So, how'd you think this plan turned out?" I ask, taking out the pitcher of juice while Mabel fetches glasses.

"Shamazing!"

"I'll pretend that's a word," I laugh.

"Oh it's a word, my dear sister...it's a word." We share another laugh together while rejoining the three in the next room over.

The glasses I were holding kerplunk to the ground.

There. On the ground. Dipper's still tied, yeah, but what in the ever-flying, ever-loving _crap_ is Bill doing?!

"Macie..." Dipper hoarsely groans. "Please get him _off_!"

"What the hey now?" Mabel asks.

Bill is rubbing against Dipper along with Blair, acting just like a cat himself.

He looks up innocently. "What? This is what he wanted...right?"

"Not from _you_! You triangular freak!" I throw myself at the sexual harassing, once demon child, knocking him on his back and restraining him. "What the frick, Bill!?"

"I-I-I thought that's what we were trying to do!? Plus, that green stuff smells _really_ good..."

"Don't tell me Bill's affected by catnip!" Mabel slaps her knee, laughing haughtily.

"Freakin' get this rope off-a me!" The brunette male directs all of our attention from off of Bill, to him, who is currently struggling against the ropes.

Sighing, I untie the boy, letting him up as he stretches. "Uh...so...?" My hand reaches the back of my next and rubs the nape of it as I sheepishly try to avoid eye contact.

"I'm," Dipper picks Blair up into his arms, "going to bed."

"Nighty-night, Pine Tree!" _'I swear he's high on this stuff or something!'_

"Come on Mabel, let's get this high child home."

"He-heh, intervention!"

 **Blair is from Soul Eater!**

 **Tbh, I felt like this entire chapter was on crack. Lmao, I laughed so hard writing this.**

 **Obviously, nothing serious is happening. Buuuut, I will take suggestions if you want to see something _specific_!**

 **What? No, this is NOT a BillDip fanfic.**

 **I would also like to leave a friendly reminder here: This is the way _I_ want to write Bill. This is the way _I_ write _myself_. If you prefer something different or want me to change, sorry, I won't do that. I love and respect everyone's opinions and criticisms, just not outright condemnation. This story is not a deep and dark one. It is not day by day (some are but most won't be). But it does have continuity. This is a story about the everyday life of Macie Pines. If the story gets stale, or you just happen to not like the direction it's going in, I encourage you to give it a chance as you may find some chapters more interesting than others and you never know what'll happen! Plus, not every chapter is going to be serious, like this one for example, pure crack. But it IS canon (to my story), everything here is.**

 **I'm taking suggestions for those who would like to see something special, so consider that!**


	15. TMAaDGWYCAtL

**Title (since it didn't fit) is, Take My Advice and Don't Gamble What You Can't Afford to Lose**

 **HUGE THANKS TO 3DPhantom for allowing me to use her fan fiction in this one! Everyone check Road To Redemption out! It's a great take on the AXOLOTL redemption theory!**

 **Title is a quote from Finn O'Leary from Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Zombies in the map MobOfTheDead**

 **Thank you so much DragonRyd3r for the suggestion! This chapter is dedicated to you!**

 **Few flashbacks in this chapter, haha, just a heads up.**

 **Thursday, October 18th 2012**

Ever since the... Blair... incident, Dipper has been hounded by said cat. She wouldn't leave him alone for the first week. Pushing up in his face in bed. Jumping him randomly around the house.

She even bit his thigh! Mom laughed when it happened and said, "Oh don't worry, they're just love bites."

 _'WHAT?! What kind of cat bites a boy's thigh as a show of affection!? I'll have you know that I've been...scarred on the thigh, in fact it's still there, but I've never gotten a love bite there!'_

Anyway, that was the 6th of October. Now, it's Thursday, October 18th and yesterday, our school decided to drop a bomb on us.

Only, I wish that's what they had done.

Pro: We're going on a field trip to THE Alcatraz Prison.

Con: We're going on a field trip. Which means being in a big, slow bus, full of rowdy children.

I excused myself almost immediately during the assembly yesterday, already feeling sick to my stomach.

Soon after I entered the bathroom, Mabel came in, worry etched on her features. Which I figured. "I'm fine," I tell her, leaning over the sink while cupping my hands to get some water. Realizing what I was doing, I shake my hand of the water that built up and squirted some soap on.

 _'Better to wash my hand first and_ _ **then**_ _drink out of them...'_ I lather them and clean both thoroughly, then go back to what I was going to do in the first place.

"Well... We'll just have to be extra prepared! Don't worry, Macie, we'll all be together and we'll have your medicine." I give my sister a smile.

 _'She always knew what to say'_

Suddenly, my body convulses, interrupting my long period of spacing out, surprised by the hand that propped itself on my left shoulder. "Couldn't help but notice you lookin' a little pale there, Ring..." It's Bill... _'Er, Aiden is what we're supposed to call him when we're in public.'_

"Yeah," I brush his hand away, "I know," I deadpan.

Ever since we found Bill, he's been weaseling his way into our life. Something about stupid human emotions making him feel things he hasn't felt before.

 **~~1 Week Earlier~~**

The twins didn't trust him, obviously, and, I didn't really either. But since he was here, I had to give him _some_ chance. I've read the good redemption stories on Bill. The AXOLOTL's poem from Dipper and Mabel and the Curse Of The Time Pirates' Treasure? It went like this:

 _'Sixty degrees that come in threes._  
 _Watches from within birch trees._  
 _Saw his own dimension burn._  
 _Misses home and can't return._  
 _Says he's happy. He's a liar._  
 _Blame the arson for the fire._  
 _If he wants to shirk the blame,_  
 _He'll have to invoke my name._  
 _One way to absolve his crime._  
 _A different form, a different time.'_

And **that** really got me thinking.

I let the twins and him look at the wiki for the book. The wiki had said:

 _'This suggests that when, before being erased from reality in the series finale, Bill gives a message that when reversed says "A-X-O-L-O-T-L! My time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!," he is actually invoking the Axolotl for redemption for his crime, and that there is one way to get absolved: he has to take "a different form" in "a different time." This would mean that Bill could return someday in the future, but it's unknown if this will ever occur.'_

Bill actually said this happened, and I believed him. Why should I not? I met the AXOLOTL and look what happened! I may have not gotten redemption, but I got another chance at my new life. I believe this is what Alex Hirsch had in mind for Bill.

"It may or may not even be canon," I had said to them, "but this is what I believe and, in _this_ world, it seems pretty canon to me."

"Well what the heck?" Bill whined, "So I was destined to be embarrassed by ol' AXOLOTL here and he gave me _this_ form at _this_ time!? I don't need redemption..." he pouted and looked away.

"I think you do..." I pull out my phone and hand it to the demon child. "Here, read this and lemme know what you think. Your human emotions should help out in all of this and while I know this isn't _you_ you, I believe you will be able to learn something with it."

"Whaizit?" Bill inspects my phone.

"It's a fan fiction called, _'Road To Redemption'_ , written by _'3DPhantom'_. It's written really well on the AXOLOTL redemption theory."

"Wait Bill gets to read a Gravity Falls fan fiction and we don't!?" Dipper pouted the same way Bill did, looking cute while he was at it.

"Haha, Pine Tree! I'm gonna get to read about all of you guys before you-ooo!" I laughed at his taunting where Dipper just flushed in anger.

"Bill." He stopped and looked at me. "This is serious and I need you to really think about this, kay?"

"Fine," he mumbled, fumbling with my phone a bit more before getting the hang of it.

 **~~Present~~**

"Soooo, why so green, then?" The way he voiced the question makes me even more sick.

I hold my hand up to stop him from saying anything else, "Aiden, please, just- where are the twins?"

"Erm.." he looks left and right with uncertainty, "not sure, should be here soon, though."

"Wow, I thought you were all knowing?" I tease, loving the way his cheeks redden.

"Shut up, Ring!" He buries his nose into his phone.

"How's the story?" I had to help the boy get the story on his phone so he wouldn't be using mine all the time. But that alone was infuriating because my cell is different than anyone else's in this world. So I had to copy the whole story and put it in the notes of his so he can even _begin_ to read.

"Weird. Are you sure this is how me and the Pines would all act?"

"The Pines and I, Bill," I correct, gaining a groan and eye roll, "and no, it's called fan fiction for a reason. It's a fan's interpretation of what they want to happen to certain characters."

"No kidding is it fiction..." he scoffs, though his eyes don't leave his screen, "Fordsie here is a jerk!"

"That's just the way the writer wrote him. But how do you think of yourself so far?"

Bill ponders this for a moment. "Well...I hate to admit it, though, they wrote me pretty well, even if I am an eight year old child! The AXOLOTL theory is almost spot on and the emotions I'm feeling in this story is really close to what I'm feeling since I got a second chance."

"That's good!" I smile, _'Things seem to be turning up!'_ "But what are your intentions here and now?" My face turns grim and I ask this seriously.

Glaring, though not at me, Bill looks down to the dirt on the ground, shuffling it around with the heels of his weird looking shoes. "I-I dunno... I wanted revenge...knowledge from you...but...but I don't know what I want anymore." I can see the sincerity in his eyes as he continues, "It hurts right here," he puts a hand on his heart, "whenever I see one of you guys distressed. Sometimes, I want to kill you all but then I feel... _guilt .._ immensely and I throw the idea out the window. I get mad but when I'm with you three, I get this happy feeling."

"That's called being human, Bill." I don't care that I don't use his stage name. "What you're feeling? Is normal human emotions. Your redemption doesn't just give you a new body to start over with with the same mentality that you had before. It gives you a second chance to live a life you were never given before. You're free to do what _you_ want, where _you_ want to go and who _you_ want to have in your life."

We go silent for a while, and, right when Bill's about to speak, Mabel jumps him. "Heyo!" She hangs off his shoulders with a big grin. "Sorry we took we so long! Dippy- Hey, Bill? Are you okay?" Mabel's mood instantly darkens when she gets a good look at the 7th grader.

His eyes are misty, looking on the verge of tears.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he assures the twins, swiping at his face.

The two look to me for an honest answer they know they'll get.

"Yeah. We're good." I nod. _'I don't want them to know what Bill said. I feel like this is something personal between us since we were both given a second chance.'_

I see that I've done the right thing by the way Bill looks; relieved, happy, and most importantly, thankful.

"Well, everything's ready to go and the teachers are just about done situating the buses and whatnot." Dipper jabs a thumb behind him to show the teachers all talking together with multiple other older people. _'Bus drivers? I'll assume...'_

"All seventh graders! Bus seventeen! Board now!" an adult calls out.

"That's my cue," Bills forces a smile for the twins, though I can see he is thinking deeply about things. "See ya' guys at the prison!"

"Byebye!" Mabel waves gleefully, but when his figure disappears in the bus, she frowns and looks in my eyes. "Macie, what was that all about?"

"Nothing, just...having a heart to heart before you guys showed up. No big deal." My smile wavers when the two don't look convinced, but, thankfully, they drop it.

"Well, anyway, we got all your backup stuff and I'll be keeping them in my bag." Dipper slings his bag over his shoulder and puts multiple pills, a granola bar, and a water bottle inside.

"Cool, thanks, guys. Like, a lot. I don't know what I'd do without you." I give them a big squeeze, earning a giggle and chuckle from the appropriate twin.

"Alright, alright, let's get onto our bus, yeah?" Mabel and I agree with our brother and board bus sixteen, en route to Alcatraz.

Time to sit back and enjoy this fifty minute ride.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: "I believe in an eye for an eye!" -Albert 'Weasel' Arlington -Black Ops 2 Zombies**

I love how most of our teachers leave us with the island tour guides. Some stayed but most went off to the pier since _technically_ they didn't need to be here if the mandatory adults were.

Since multiple classes were here at once, there were multiple guides who took each grade to a different part of the building.

 **'Do you ever get dreams with the AXOLOTL?'** I read a text from Aiden on my phone. _'I should really change his name to Bill...'_

I quickly type my reply before anyone can catch me. **'Erm...no, not that I can remember...why?'**

 **'Just wondering. I had one last night. That blasted creature spoke to me.'**

 **'What'd it say?'**

 **'Never mind.'**

 _'Well that was weird...'_ I can't dwell on the fact that Bill's being kind of secretive on account of getting my phone taken away.

"You guys notice any change in Bill's behavior lately?" I ask the twins, who were walking next to me as the tour guide takes us into the dilapidated building.

"No," Mabel answers with a hop in her skip, then stops. "Wait, why?"

Putting his hand to his chin, Dipper scratches it. "Not that I can really tell..."

"Maybe it's just me...but Bill's been acting weird since earlier today."

"Oh, earlier today? Yeah, he was kinda out of character if you know what I mean!" The three of us can't help but giggle at Mabel's inside joke.

"Okay, look at this text he sent me." I show them my messages. "Weird, right?"

"Yeah, definitely weird..."

"Okay can we all stop saying weird?" Mabel asks with a laugh.

My brother and I share a glance before nodding.

"No cell phones permitted. Hand them over." All three of us jump in surprise by the sudden deep voice of the principal, holding his hand out as he waits for me to hand over my cell.

The principal, while he's still the same one Bill tricked us with, changed his view of us but kept his name and the mascot as the same. _'Something tells me Bill had more influence than we thought over that guy...'_

"Erm..." I clutch the item to my chest. Seeing that the man won't let up, I sigh and place it in his large palm. He smiles and walks back to the front of the class.

When we finally enter the prison, I'm excited to see what I know of it.

 _'I've only seen Alcatraz in the game Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 Zombies where, in the map called Mob Of The Dead, Alcatraz is the location of all the zombie hordes and whatnot... So I'm excited to see what's the same in here and the game!'_

"Whoaaaa!" Mabel awes, doing what I was gonna do.

Instantaneously, as we walk down a hall, I get nostalgic vibes. "It looks just like the game!"

"Wait, you played a game with this place in it?" I turn around.

"Dipper..I played in this very prison while fighting off hordes among hordes of zombies!"

"Whoa! Awesome!" The boy's voice cracks and echoes in the empty halls, making several children laugh and said boy to shrink with pink dusting his cheeks.

"Lighten up!" I slap his back. He gets jerked forward from the sheer strength that I didn't know I used.

"Carrying on..." our guide says, regarding the children who have stopped from their laughter.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: How do I write out a tour of Alcatraz? I'm just gonna skip to the end XD~~**

"Ugh..." I feel sick as we ride the boat back to mainland. "How long til' we get back?" I ask, drawling out in a whine.

"'Bout," Dipper pauses, "six minutes."

I groan again.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: The long ride back!~~**

My phone keeps buzzing and Dipper keeps telling me to look at it. And I would, yeah, if I didn't get sick the last time I looked down. Mabel made sure to give me a Dramamine and I'm still nauseous.

"It's probably Bill. He can wait." I shove my phone in my bag so I can ignore it easier.

"Hey uh...Mace?" I turn to look at my brother, who's sitting to the right of me and in the middle of me and Mabel. Good thing these seats fit three! I give him my attention, so he continues, "Why don't you tell me about that game you played. The one with the zombies?"

"Okay, um..." _'Where do I start?'_ "So you start off the game in wave one. Very few zombies break in and you can one hit kill them with a knife. You got the starter pistol, M one nine eleven. Very weak but will do for the first few rounds. By that time you're probably at round four or five, so I suggest getting a new gun off the wall or from the mystery box..."

As I keep ranting, I didn't even notice we were dropped back off at school. Smirking, Dipper stops me and tells me to, "Come on!"

 _'Sly...very sly but...thank you!'_

 **~~Time Jump~~**

"Ahhhh!" I flop onto my bed, satisfied by the instant comfort after having such a long day. Giggling, Mabel follows suit on her own bed. _'Oh wait...'_ I forgot to check my phone.

 **'This place is weird.'**

 **'Ring, didja know they did some evil stuff here?!'**

 **'Wait, you're here, too, of course you know...'**

I smile and roll my eyes at Bill Cipher's ignorance.

' **Are you not responding because I didn't tell you?'**

 **'Oh come on, Ring. If it's worth anything, I appreciated what you said earlier.'**

 **'Seriously?! I practiced saying that in my head for an hour now and still no response!?'**

"Heheh.."

 **'Fine, I'll tell you what that darned animal told me.'**

My eyebrows widen as I did not expect him to come clean so fast.

He texts back. _'Huh...'_

 **~~Bill's POV~~**

My phone finally dings after waiting what seems like forever! _'Stupid meatbags taking way too long to text back...'_ I stumble out of the fan fiction Ring told me to read and go to my messages.

 **'Bill. I think what the AXOLOTL was trying to tell you is to take its advice and don't gamble what you can't afford to lose.'**

I don't go to sleep as I stay awake and think about everything that's happened so far.

 **WOO! MYSTERY! Also, BILL'S POV! WOO!**

 **Check out 3DPhantom's story, Road To Redemption! Also, if by some chance you, 3DPhantom, are reading this... HAI! I love your story and take on the Axolotl redemption theory!**


	16. Hey, Brother and Sister

**Important A/N at the end, so please consider reading it :)**

 **Lol, extra long chapter! Sorry I took so long DX... ANYWAY, this chapter is based on the popular horror game. Layers of Fear.**

 **Note's left by H.N are an Easter Egg requested by my friend!**

"Come on, Macie! It's almost Halloween! Our favorite holiday!" Mabel whines, not letting go of the ankle she's currently gripping. Since my sister is unfathomably strong, I can't move and sigh.

"Yeah, maybe you and Dipper's favorite, but not mine! I can't do freaky stuff... Come to think of it..." I start trailing off, remembering, "I went into a haunted house and one thing made me jump and I had to squeeze my eyes shut and grip onto my aunt the entire time. That thing cost a lot of money to go in, too!"

"But Macieeeee!" I groan and shake my head, massaging the bridge of my nose.

"Erm... Girls?" A brown head full of hair pokes his head in, confusion etched in every possible location.

Mabel's whining abruptly stops as we both stare at our brother. "Dipppppperrrrrr!" She releases my ankle and clutches onto Dipper's. "Tell Macie she has to go with us!"

"What? Where?" he asks, now looking even more confused than before.

 _'Wait, I'm free.'_ I realize and take a seat on my bed, flattening out the wrinkles that are visible.

"The haunted house! Did you forget!?" Eyes watering, Dipper avoids contact with our over dramatic sister.

"Er...n-no? Of course I didn't?" I face palm at his unbelievingness. _'That a word? It is now.'_ I smirk to myself smugly.

"You did! I can't believe you did!" _'Whoa!'_ Mabel halfheartedly punches his chest and runs out, but turns back before descending the stairs. "Fine! I don't need you two to go to the haunted house with me! I'll find someone else!"

Then she was gone.

"You think she's serious?" I ask. Dipper sighs, shrugs and then sits next to me.

"Honestly? Probably. I totally forgot about the whole thing because I was working on some of my advanced school work so I can finally beat Alex!" I grin as he makes a fist and waves it in the air.

"Oh yeah... when am I going to meet this Alex person?"

"Never. Ugh. So annoying..." His moans make me laugh as he shuffles out of the room.

"He can't be that bad!" I yell after him but get no response.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Leviathans; Worse than Demons...I think?~~**

"Mabel come on... I'm sorry I forgot okay?" From my spot on the couch, I can hear Dipper fail at his lame apology to Mabel in the kitchen.

"She still ignoring you?" I stifle a snort as my brother walks into the room, slumping.

I only get a glare in response, which makes me release my laughter at his despair. Then again, I probably deserved the slap that came next. "Jerk..." the boy mumbles. Again, I giggle, but then seeing his face, I sober and sit up.

"Come on, Dip, she can't be mad for long!" _'Right?!'_

"Macie, you saw how long she moped on that totem pole when she lost Waddles!" he outbursts, his arms out and everything.

"Oh yeah..." My finger rests on my chin as I ponder, "that's a good point..."

"So what do I do!?" I don't get to answer the awkward teen as the other teen steps in, generating us to not make a sound and just watch her make her way up the stairs, skipping a few along the way.

"That was freakish..." I finally speak up when the sound to our bedroom door shuts. "Mabel? Not talking?" I dramatically shiver.

Huffing, Dipper rolls his eyes, "Whatever, we gotta go to that haunted house with her."

"What?" My body aches when I stand up so suddenly and ferociously. "Dude, I don't wanna go to that... isn't there- isn't there something or somewhere else we can go and do? Like a party- err..."

"Dude, calm down. It's just a haunted house, it ain't gonna kill ya."

"It will if I get a heart attack!" I retort.

"You're not gonna get a heart attack..."

"How would you know?"

"Maci-," he sighs, "look, how long has it been since you've been to one?" When I don't answer, he continues, "Exactly, so... this'll be your first time with us! Everything will be okay and it'll be worth it to see the smile on Mabel's face."

"Alright..." I give in reluctantly. "But I'm out if I feel sick!"

"Deal." We join hands in a mock deal sealing.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: The Haunted House at Disney Land! When you get stalled in the cars, the stupid voice over guy keeps blabbing about the 'Doom Buggies' lol~~**

 _'When is this thing, again?'_ I pace around my room with mixed emotions, trying to wrack my brain for the answer of when this stupid event is taking place.

Mabel almost exploded from joy when we told her we'd go. What she didn't bother mentioning was what got me angry. Upset? I don't really know how I feel anymore.

"You invited who!?"

"Just a boy from school! It's no big deal, Dipper! I thought you and Macie were gonna be totally MIA!"

 _'Ugh. Their arguing is starting to give me a headache...'_

"Would you two just shut up already!?" I shout at the wall, not worrying if my message got through or not.

It quiets down for a moment and I give a sigh of relief. Then the voices come back. _'Arg!'_ I cover my ears and angrily flop onto my bed, reaching down and pulling my phone out to search up this place we'll be going to.

 _ **Levels of Dread**_

 _ **Trembling for terror? Feeling up for fear?**_

I scoff, _'Not really...'_.

 _ **Levels of Dread is California's 1# full contact haunted attraction!**_

 _'It's not even a house- it's an entire attraction!? Wait... FULL CONTACT!?'_

 _ **Come on down to the one and only location to have the night of your life!**_

 _ **Events \ Things to know \ Location and times \ Contact Info \ Gallery \ Attractions \ Buy tickets \**_

I click on things to know and don't like what I read. "Aw man..." I mumble to myself, wondering how to get myself out of this one.

"No! I'm going with him and that's it! I'm glad you two are joining, but I'm not just gonna tell Logan that I'm dissing him! We'll all go together!" Mabel barges into the room. Huffing after slamming the door, some sweat rolling down her forehead. I watch her rip that colorful, iconic, pink headband and lob it across the room.

"Whoa..." I breathe, surprised by my sister's sudden anger.

"That- urg- why- he's- UGH!" Mabel's incoherent ramblings also catch me off guard. I raise a questioning eyebrow when she finally looks my way.

"Uh, Mabel?" She doesn't stop pacing and mumbling to herself. Huffing, annoyed at the attitude she's radiating, I grab her by the shoulders and make her eyes meet mine. "Mabel! Calm down! Tell me what the heck is going on!"

"Ugh! It's just that- Dipper's mad at me for inviting someone else to come with me because I thought you two weren't going and especially him because he forgot in the first place! But I don't blame you since you didn't know."

"Who'd you invite?"

"Logan."

"Never heard of him..." _'Have I?'_

"Well he's a grade above us and I met him during lunch when I dropped my milk. He's super sweet and said he'd love to go to the haunted house with me! I just don't get why Dipper is having such a big cow over it!"

"Ehhh, I don't know this guy, either, Mabes. Shouldn't your twins meet the guy first?"

"What? No way! I don't need you two's permission to go with this guy! He's cool!"

"I'm not saying he's not," I sigh exasperatedly, "I just don't know the guy and- okay, look, we'll all four go together, yeah?"

"Really? You won't be like Dipper?!"

"Nah. I'll judge silently." I laugh. She giggles as well, going over to grab some stuff for the event. "Welp, now I gotta get ready, I'll be right back." I wave, leaving our shared room.

"Really?!"

"GAH!" I jump and spazz out in the air. "What the freak? Were you eavesdropping?!" My brother doesn't seem fazed about being caught.

"Really, Macie? You're letting Logan come?! I thought you'd convince her to just let it be us three."

"Yeah? Well, what's your problem with Mabel inviting a boy to go? You forgot about the whole thing! I'd be upset, too!"

"Ugh!" Dipper waves his hands down, scoffing, "Whatever..."

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Fighting. Weak to Flying, Fairy, Psychic!~~**

"Macie, are your siblings okay?" I sit in the family car, waiting for said siblings to come out with Mom in the driver's seat.

"I think? Dipper's mad because Mabel invited some guy from school."

I watch as the woman's head nod and her lips form an 'O' in understanding. "Oh right. I heard Logan was a sweet boy."

The car door to my left was suddenly flown open. A grumbling boy with a lumberjack hat makes his way in. Then, the left car door opens with a clearly distressed female avoiding eye contact with the male. "Macie, could I please sit on the end this time?" she asks quietly.

I look between the twins, then to our mom and then back to my female counterpart. I sigh. "Yeah alright..." Pulling my phone out, I just got a brilliant idea. I go into my music playlist and search for a specific song. "Here, Mom." I hand her my phone and she plugs it into the aux.

Music starts playing, gaining the twins' attention.

 _~Hey Brother~_

 _Hey, brother, there's an endless road to re-discover.  
Hey, sister, know the water's sweet but blood is thicker.  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._

Hey, brother, do you still believe in one another?  
Hey, sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do.

What if I'm far from home?  
Oh, brother, I will hear you call.  
What if I lose it all?  
Oh, sister, I will help you out!  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do.

Hey, brother, there's an endless road to re-discover.  
Hey, sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do.

What if I'm far from home?  
Oh, brother, I will hear you call.  
What if I lose it all?  
Oh, sister, I will help you out!  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do.

It took a lot of self restraint to not sing along, but I fared well enough. Using this song was my plan whenever the twins got into a big fight, so I think now was appropriate.

"That song was amazing, Mace." Mom smiles in the rear view mirror. "What about you two?" She purses her lips, eyeing Dipper and Mabel. When they don't answer, I sigh.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: My temp editor for this chapter! Thanks LumpyApple :3~~**

We finally arrived to the place. The twins are still avoiding eye contact and I'm stuck in the middle of all the awkwardness and tension. "Oh! Oh!" I jump at Mabel's sudden excitement since she hasn't spoke the entire ride. She leans up in her seat as far as her seat belt will allow her and repeatedly taps her finger on the window. "There's Logan! Let us off over there, Mom!"

Silently, Mom drives to the boy and what appears to be this kid's father and parks. Mabel gets out first, practically throwing the door open. She unclicked her seat belt so fast, it thwacked me across the elbow. _'Owwww!'_ I clench my teeth, trying to calm my stinging and burning funny bone.

To my right, I hear my brother get out his side and when he does, he sighs and shoves his hands into his shorts' pockets.

 _'Guess it's my turn to get out...'_ Huffing, I get out Mabel's side and close the door behind me. Mom gives me a sympathetic smile and waves. I wave back and she drives off.

In the distance, Mabel is talking to a boy taller than all three of us. "Macie!" she calls me over, "This is Logan, Logan this is my sister Macie!"

"Hi," I greet the boy.

"What's up?" he nicely replies, holding a hand out. I take it and we share a shake.

I don't say anything back, not really sure what to even speak of! So, as I tilt on the heels of my feet, thank Thor Mabel decided to cut in, purposely or not it was still amazing. "Well what are we waiting for!? Let's go get our scare on!" she cries as Dipper shuffles up to us. Grinning, my sister grabs me and Logan's wrists, and, from reflex, I grab Dipper's too as Mabel inadvertently makes a train of dragging children.

"How many? And which attraction?" A teen, probably late teens, stands at an old-timey looking ticket booth with a bored look on his face.

"Four and Levels of Dread!" I sigh, already deflated by the brunette's enthusiasm.

This kid has about the total opposite amount of Mabel's enthusiasm as he, with one hand propping his head up by his cheek, does a few things and four tickets spit out of the corner. He hands them to us, giving Dipper a weird look before putting on a fake cheery smile and telling us to enjoy and not die.

 _'Creepy dude... Why did he give Dipper such a look?'_

I just can't wrap my head around anything anymore. _'Gosh, I wish Bill was here. At least he'd have some comedic relief!'_

By the time my brain stops thinking of absurd scenarios, our little group reaches the entrance to Levels of Dread.

Tickets received by the worker outside our doom, we enter and immediately, I get spooky vibes. _'Which, I guess, isn't surprising since we're in a HAUNTED HOUSE!'_

"What's not surprising?" I quietly whisper to myself and almost snort at my inside joke. _'Maybe if I keep making these jokes I'll keep my sanity in check long enough to just blow all this over with...'_

"AH!"

Flipping out, I instantly cower into myself as Mabel's scream echos in the room. "Mabel! Nothing happened!" Dipper scolds with a scowl.

"It's okay, Mabel, I'm here if you get scared." I think Dipper gagged at the same I did by his body movement as Logan goes to put an arm around my sis.

"Heeeey!" I sneak in and quote on quote 'interrupt' Logan's attempt at flirting as I put an arm around Mabel's shoulder instead. "How's about we go upstairs?"

"Okay!" I hear Dipper's snickers behind me as the other male's growls can be barely heard as well. "Hey! Piano!" Mabel starts smashing the white keys of the piano, making absurd noise.

"Really?" I deadpan, the notes not making me feel better about this place. "Wait what's this?" I go to inspect a note I just found on the top of the piano.

"Gah!" Mabel, once again, freaks out, but this time, I was witnessing it with her. The lid to the piano slammed down and, by the look on her face, Mabel just missed having her fingers shmushed.

"You okay?" She shakes her head, keeping her hand close. "Kay, I'mma read this note now." I clear my throat dramatically, " 'I knew someone would notice this immediately. The name doesn't matter, all you have to know is that I'm gonna tell you something through these notes. I hope you're alone, because after this, you don't want anyone else to get involved'."

"Huh." Dipper takes the note out of my hand and flips it over, inspecting it thoroughly and seemingly reading it again like he doesn't think I can read or something. "Guess some kid went through this and left some notes. We should find the others! It's like a mystery!"

I snort and see Mabel roll her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "Course you'd turn it into a mystery hunt," she lightly sneers, earning a hard glare from our brother.

"Well- uh, let's get going?" Logan awkwardly tries to move this along and for that, I'm grateful.

 _'This is gonna be a long night...'_

 **Splitting this into 2 parts because of how long it's been since I've uploaded. I'm sorry for that, by the way. No motivation and depression doesn't mix well at all.**

 **Don't worry, I'm okay! Just switched medicine and it's taking effect on my mental state. And I have no idea when the next part to this will come out.**

 **BUT! I can't stress this enough, and I just want to make sure each and every one of you get it.**

 **I WILL NOT ABANDON THIS STORY.**

 **THIS STORY WILL NEVER NOT GET UPDATED.**

 **Updates are random and might be a month, or a few days in between.**

 **Thank you everyone who reads this and I hope you all have an amazing day!**


	17. Panic! At The Haunted House

After the piano mishap, and I found that note by the mysterious H.N., we wander the top floor for a bit before I ask, "So, what do we do now?" _'Thankfully,'_ Mabel and Dipper's tensions seem to have lessened a bit.

"Guys! Down here!" My brother's voice echos from downstairs. Looking to each other, between the three of us kids, we decide to check it out. _'Dipper wanted to conduct his own little search for the time being while Mabel, Logan, and I searched upstairs. This conflict is getting annoying!'_

I tap my toes on the way down, skipping almost playfully. "What?" I meet up by the teen as he stands next to a, green and red splattered with paint, door. "Oh," I grab the note stuck to it, "did you read this already?" I ask Dipper.

"Yup. We need a key to get in. Says it's in the office."

"Alright," I ponder, "Then where's the office?"

"Found it!" We turn around at the same time to see Mabel down the hall a little ways, waving her arms in front of, what I assume is, the office door. Fortunately for me, Logan is looking a little fed up at our sister's antics and is looking to be regretting every decision he's made up until now.

"Cool." I meet up with the two, Dipper trailing behind, and push the girl's arms down. "Chill Mabel," I laugh, "you're supposed to be terrified right now."

Giggling, she covers her lips and then pats me on the back, "How can I be scared? This place is awesome!"

I deadpan, "You were scared when we played Five Nights At Freddy's..."

"Pfft," she waves her hand, "that's a horror game from..." leaning in close, Mabel whispers into my ear, "...your world..." then she speaks up again, "so I had no idea what was gonna happen. Plus! I wasn't as scared as Dip Dop!"

I nod in agreement. _'True, true...'_

"Mabel, focus." Dipper cuts ahead and opens the door to the office.

Walking in, the walls to the left and right are covered in books and, straight ahead, is a portrait of a...man child? I shiver. "Eugh!"

 _'Literally a head of a baby on a man's body and I don't know what to think...'_

Inspecting the absurd, but, I admit, well made painting further, I see a little note on the bottom corner of it. I rip it off and read to myself in a low whisper, "'A sign of an artist loved and lost. Remember this art. -HN'"

Nodding, I secure the note in my back pack on my back.

"Ooo, Little Red Riding Hood!" I turn around and see Mabel sifting through what looks like a story consisting of multiple pictures, donning the famous tale of Little Red.

Silently, I hold my hand out and Mabel hands the pages over. I go through them and only see how morbid it gets as the story goes. On the very last page, I turn it around and see, yet another, note from HN.

 **'Whoever made this version of this story... I hate you. -HN'**

 _'Well it_ _ **is**_ _pretty darn morbid...'_ I think to myself and peel off the note, placing it with the others.

 _'I wonder how many I'll collect by the end of this?'_

"So now that we got the key to the painted door room, can we get out of here? That painting is giving me the creeps..." Logan furls his arms together as he tries to avoid eye contact with said painting.

"Yes. Please." I don't wait for my twins, and neither does Logan as he follows straight behind me. I check to see if they're following and, while they're being a tad slow, they still come up behind me and Mabel's date.

 _'Is it a date? I don't know anything anymore...'_

Throwing her fist in the air, my giddy sister hoorahs, "To the painted door!"

Entering the room introduces us to all sorts of paint splattered on the walls, heck, everything has at least a spot of paint on it.

Logan, surprisingly, goes ahead and reaches a canvas covered by a sheet in the middle of the room. "Should I take this off?"

I shrug, apparently giving him the go ahead since he takes it off anyways.

It's an unfinished painting on a decent sized canvas.

"Look over here," Dipper speaks up. To the left of the canvas is a series of cabinets. Each of the six doors has a lock.

"Guess we're gonna have to do some huntin'..." _'Not sure how I feel about this... I just wanna get out of this house...'_

Mabel smiles and runs to the front of the room, gripping onto the doorknob. "Well then what are we waiting for?! Let's go find those keys!"

"You are way too excited to be in a haunted house..." I call bluntly.

The young teen's grin falters immediately when she flings the door open. The entire place has changed. Instead of being the living room of the house, it is now a plain, narrow hallway.

"What the what!?"

"Sick!"

"Oh gosh..."

"Great..."

Mabel, then Logan, then Dipper, then me all express our surprise right after the other. Taking a step forward, I wonder what door we should go to. _'The one farthest from us or the one to the right?'_

"We should go through this one!" Mabel's cry startles me as she points rapidly to the door on the right.

"No. No, I think we should go through this one," Dipper disagrees with a nod as he grips the other door's knob.

"No! This is the right one! I know it!"

"Mabel! In horror games, or in this case, REAL LIFE, you go through the farthest door!"

"How does that make any sense?" I whisper curiously to Logan. He shrugs, making an I don't know hum.

"Nuh uh! This is my thing, remember Dipper? I choose where to go!"

"It's bad enough you guilt tripped me and Macie along on this trip! Now you're gonna go around and boss us, too!?"

"Uh, guys?" I was going to let this play out and hopefully witness them make up, but this is getting heated way too fast.

"You're the one that forgot about it in the first place!" Mabel accuses angrily.

Silently, as the two bicker, Logan inspects the wall. "Huh... does this candle look out of sorts to you?"

I splutter, "Wha-? I-I don't know! It's just a candle!"

"Well, I'mma touch it."

"Whatever! You should try to calm these two maniacs down." The boy ignores me and grabs hold of the mounted candle, pulling it and, to my surprise, it leans down like a lever. Realization dawns on me, "Oh no..."

I expected a trap door to open beneath me and this clueless teen I'm standing next to. Nope. The wall literally turns around completely, snatching up the oblivious twins to the other side of Thor knows where.

"Dipper! Mabel!" I reach out in surprise. _'Heh, kinda dramatically like they do in TV and movies... Wait, my triplets!'_ "Crap! Why did you pull that candle!?" I shout, pointing a finger to the frozen boy; shock or fear, I don't know and I don't really care.

"I- I didn't know it'd do that!" Logan backs up with his hands up, shaking his head. _'Fear. Good, he_ _ **should**_ _fear me.'_

"Well we gotta find them! Pull it again!" He does so but nothing happens. "Great," I sigh, "Let's go." I beckon him and we go through the door Mabel wanted.

 _'This'll be fun...'_

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: How do you tell if what you're reading is sarcastic or not? Because the last sentence above is Macie being sarcastic...~~**

 _'How long have we been wandering these halls!?'_ I wanna whine, but I'd feel embarrassed in front of Mabel's friend, so I resort to complaining in my head.

"Man this sucks!" Logan finally speaks up. His voice echos in the empty hallway, startling me. Thank goodness he didn't see.

"Do you have salt?" I blurt out, then blush from the absurdity of the question.

The boy gives me a look before answering with a scoff, "No? Why on earth would I have salt?"

" _Someone_ hasn't seen Supernatural..." I mumble, walking ahead.

"Man this is so annoying! I came here to spend time with Mabel! Not watch her argue with her brother and then get lost with her sister..."

"Dude, you're the one who pulled the lever!" I retort.

"Like I knew!"

"You're in a haunted house and a wall-mounted candle looks out of sorts. The first thing you do is _not_ touch it!" I roll my eyes as we continue forward. "Ouch!" I rub my nose, looking up at what I have apparently run into in a narrow hallway.

A painting is protruding off of the wall. Slowly, it closes back into place, looking like a normal portrait. "Haha!" Logan laughs, pointing a finger at me. I glare at him causing his laughter to cease.

After that happened, I take a step to go and almost slip from a piece of paper on the floor. "Oh my gosh..." I growl, fed up with everything. It's another note from H.N. **'If you're reading this, that means you didn't fall for the last booby trap. If you're in a group and your friends got caught, good luck on finding them. -H.N'**

I sigh and shove the note in my bag. _'Greeaaat...'_

We proceed through another set of rooms, both trying our best to not stare at the creepy paintings. "Isn't there an emergency exit in these places? I just wanna get out of heeere." I don't care if I whine in front of him now. I'm way too tired and annoyed to care.

"Don't worry. We'll find your siblings and get out of here. This place sucks anyways- not even that scary. Hey- I thought it said full contact on the web page- Yeeowww!" Logan gets cut off when a hand comes out of the ground, gripping his ankles.

"Aaaaah!" I scream, though instead of fleeing, I stand and watch as the boy struggles.

"I take it back! This place is scary! Aaaaah!" My hand quickly covers my mouth when I snort.

My joy is short lived, however. "Gah!" A hand comes and grabs my ankle, making me panic and fall down on my butt. "Let go, let go, let go!" I work to set myself free and finally, it works. Both hands sink back into the carpet, leaving us to stand in shock and breathe heavily.

"Okay. That's it. I'm outta here!" Logan swipes his hands across his torso as he deadpans and goes through a nearby door.

"W-wait!" I rush after him.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: This chapter! Taking longer to come out than The Incredibles 2 did!~~**

"Stop," I command the teen. He obeys and turns to look me in the eye.

"What?" he asks as I slide down a wall.

I pull out my inhaler, "I need a break..." and take a puff. My stomach is in knots and I don't know how many more jump-scares I can take. Rifling through my bag to find my emergency granola bar proves fruitless as I can't find it anywhere. I dumped my entire bag out on the floor and it's still nowhere to be found.

This makes my breathing quicken. My blood sugar is low because we've been in here for at least a few hours by now and I haven't eaten anything since this morning.

Logan must have noticed my entire body quivering because now he's sitting next to me looking awkward and unsure of what to do.

"I- uh, what's wrong?"

I chuckle at his tone. "No-nothing..." Why should I share my problems with a complete stranger? They hardly get solved from the people closest to me, how would _he_ make me feel better?

"Uh... Well, you wanna keep looking?" he timidly asks.

"Nuh-uh," I shake my head childishly. "I need to sit here and calm my breathing."

Taking deep breaths, I sling my bag over and start digging through it for the notes I've been long since collecting. I start reading them one by one, either to take my mind off things or to see if there's anything I missed by reading in between the lines.

 _'Oh gosh.'_ I stand up abruptly, startling the teen next to me. "What, what is it?"

"I don't feel good," I moan, clutching my stomach. I start to pace, my breathing quickening as I breathe through my nose hastily. "Is-is-is-is-isn't there an emergency exit or something?!" I cry, panicked, looking around for any kind of door that will get me out of here.

"Uh- er-?" Logan doesn't know what to do. He starts running around, looking for an exit. "What's wrong?!"

"I'm having a panic attack, idiot!" I yell, angry.

"Oh! Uh... I don't know what to do! I've never been with someone who's had one before!"

"Just- find an exit! Please!" I beg, doubling over as my stomach aches and grumbles.

Logan gives me a worried once over before booking it. _'I am so embarrassed...'_

Mabel's friend is taking forever, so I get up and start looking myself. _'Nothing, nothing, oh look! More nothing!'_

"Macie? Macie!?" Logan voice calls for me from about two rooms over.

"In here!" I reply.

"Macie! Thank goodness! You weren't in the room I left you in." I don't say anything so he continues, "Anyway, I found an exit!" That lifts my mood just a bit.

He leads me outside and I greedily take in a big sigh of fresh air before releasing it. My stomach has only calmed down a bit, but it feels good to be outside. "Logan," I turn to him, "thanks and could you go ask for someone to get the twins? I need to go home."

"Yeah, sure." I thank him again as he runs off. I find a local bench to sit on as I gather my thoughts.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: You can bet I'm never going in one of those attractions again!~~**

"Mace!" Mabel's voice shakes me. Her and Dipper are running towards me with Logan close behind. She jumps on me, hugging my form tightly. "How you feeling? Logan told us what happened! Are you okay?!"

"One question at a time, Mabes," I laugh, pushing her off. "I'm fine now I guess. I just wanna go home."

"Then let's." Dipper pulls out his cell phone, calling our mom, I assume. "Mom'll be here in fifteen."

"Good." I lay my head back and close my eyes.

True to her word, Mom got here in about 15 minutes, pulling up, rolling down her window and calling us to the car. While we were waiting, Mabel talked to Logan the entire time. Not sure what about but I think they'll be hanging out again by how big my sister's smile is.

"How was it?" Mom asks as we pull out.

I deadpan, "Terrible."

"Amazing!" Mabel jumps in her seat.

Rolling his eyes, Dipper says, "It was okay..." _'I think he doesn't want to admit it that it was fun, hah.'_

She giggles at our answers.

"Oh you liked it, admit it." I elbow the boy's side.

He recoils and glares before blushing and quietly admitting that, "Yeah okay, it was pretty fun..."

 **~~Time Jump~~**

When we get home, I yawn and make my way to my bedroom. Mabel follows close behind while Dipper is already up there. "So," I ask my sister as we crawl in bed, "what happened when you two were separated from us?"

"Uh..." she hesitates. _'Were they still fighting?'_ "Me and Dipper got to talking and we made up. I guess neither of us wanted to admit that we were both out of line, but after you played that song and I was alone with him, we kinda fell apart and hugged."

"Awwww!"

"Sh-shut up! It was a good song!"

"I know! That's why I played it! I swear it was made for you guys or something!"

"Heehee," Mabel giggles and flops in her covers. "Goodnight Macie..."

"Night, Mabes."

 _'I am so gonna tease Dipper about having a chick-flick moment with Mabel tomorrow!'_

I grin evilly to myself before my eyes widen.

 _'I DIDN'T WRITE IN MY JOURNAL, DANGIT!'_

 **Hooray! It's out!**

 **Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go crawl in a hole and curl up 'n' die from lack of motivation :D**


	18. Costume Preparations

**October 27th 2012**

 **Don't miss it! Piedmont Middle school is hosting their annual Halloween bash!**

 **6pm-9pm**

 **Food drinks games and more!**

 **Don't forget to wear a costume!***

And, in tiny little words, **No weapons of any kind.**

"Annual? As in you two've been to this before?" I quirk an eyebrow and raise the neon orange flyer in the twins' general direction.

"Yup."

"Exactitude."

"Are they fun?" The two look to each other before grinning and nodding heads at the same time. "Oooooo! Can we go!?"

"Well duh we're going!" Mabel excites, grabbing the flyer out of my hand and tossing it up in the air.

Dipper inserts his hands in his pockets. "We weren't really sure how you would feel about them since social stuff isn't really your thing...- I mean, before, you were fine but now...? We aren't exactly sure."

"Well..." I tilt my head, "I really like going to these things and playing the games, eating the food and what not. It doesn't mean that I'm absolutely going to speak to someone..."

"Fair point."

"SO!" Mabel interrupts loudly, "What costumes are we gonna wear this year!? OH! I know! Let's be the three blind mice!"

Dipper and I share a look of disgust. "Uhhhh, yeeeeah no. I am not dressing up as a mouse with sunglasses on while walking around with a cane."

"Yeah, Mabel," my brother backs me up as he rubs the nape of his neck, "I think- if we have to dress up as a group- it should be something cooler."

Shooting Star's demeanor changes in an instant, stilling us both. "Dipper, there is no way we're _not_ triplet costuming this year."

"Remind me not to deny her of triplet activities..." I lean over and whisper into the boy's ear. An audible gulp can be heard as he nods slowly. "So! What's the plan then, Mabes?"

She smiles once again, which I'm thankful for. "Okay! So there's always a costume contest, so our costumes gotta be AMAZING!"

"Well, your peanut butter and jelly costumes were cute on Summerween," I point out, silently chuckling at Dipper's flushed cheeks.

"Yeah but that was Summerween! And... I dunno, I wanted to do triplet costumes that time but I guess the show wanted us to do what we did regardless of you being our triplet."

I nod to Mabel, she's right as always.

"So we're gonna do what we do every year- the years you don't remember- and dress up as a group!" Dipper frowns, crossing his arms.

"And what do you propose we do? I agree with Macie. I'm not dressing up as a blind mouse!"

"Alright, alright! We'll think of something together! Maybe go to the store?" our sister suggests.

I quickly jump on board. "Yeah! Let's do that!" I guess I should explain myself because the twins are looking at me with raised eyebrows and questioning stares. "See, I used to have to find myself a costume or make them and- well, basically, I don't think I've ever actually just went to a store and _bought_ a costume."

"Ooooo! Yay! Another Scrapbookertunity!" ***Snap*** A flash of light comes out of nowhere. I blink my eyes to recover from it. Mabel apparently took out a Polaroid out of, again, nowhere and took a picture of my unready face. "This one's gonna get a whole new chapter!" she giddily squeals, running upstairs.

 _'I assume she's getting her scrap book ready?'_

"Yup," Dipper says.

 _'Did I say that out loud? Must've...'_

Footsteps hurriedly tumble back down the stairs as a blur of brown and pink zoom by. "Let's go!"

"Whoa!" I sidestep my speedy sister, missing her elbow by a hair.

She stops by the front door, holding the door knob and giving my taken aback brother and me expected looks. "COME ON!" Her outburst makes it out to the back-freaking-yard as a woman in gardening gear comes in.

 _'Does she not have another hobby? It's October! This is no time for botany!'_

"Where do you kids think you're going?" Her foot taps the carpeted floor.

"Uh..." Dipper looks around wearily, "the Halloween store?"

"Not without lunch you aren't! I made sandwiches!" Mom's demeanor changed so fast I think I got whiplash!

"Aw yes!" Dipper runs ahead, Mabel close behind. "Thanks Mom!"

Mom chuckles, then looks to me. "Well go on, Macie, go eat lunch."

"Ah, right...thanks.." I mumble and head into the kitchen, taking my seat and grabbing a rectangular sandwich.

Dipper and Mabel are already munching on their shares as I just start.

 ***Ding dong***

"Kiiiids!" Our heads shoot up at Mom's voice. "It's your friend, Aiden! Want me to let him in?!"

Giving each other three way glances, I answer, "Yeah, Mom!"

Seconds later, after the sound of the front door shuts, 'Aiden' walks in. "Heya, kids!" he says cheerfully, taking a seat at the table.

"Hi, Bill," I greet first since the other's mouths are full of an assortment of meat, bread and... _'Mabel eats sandwiches with mustard?! Gross!'_

"Good job with using the front door!"

I laugh.

"Thanks, Shooting Star! Though, I was hiding upstairs the entire time while you two were talking..." We stare at the boy with wide eyes. "ANYWAY! I heard costumes, Halloween, store, shopping and I thought, wow, I'd love to do that stuff!"

"Oh my gosh yes~!" Mabel stands up in her chair, a piece of crust flying through the air. _'She must have ripped it off mid jump since she hates the crust. I learned that the hard way...'_ "Dipper! We can have an even bigger group costume group!"

"Ugh..." The boy slams his face down on the table with a loud thud.

"What? Group? Nah, this is my time to be the scariest thing ever! Scare some snot-nosed kid's underwear off! Do you know what it was like to watch Halloween for centuries and not be able to participate?! This is my chance!" Bill's voice goes kind of demonic at the end.

"What the what!? No! We gotta get the best group costume for the contest! Group costumes almost always win!" Shooting Star whines with a high pitched voice. I sit and silently observe the whole debacle, nibbling on my food.

"Can't we discuss this later, at the store?" The only reasonable person here proposes.

"Fine, Dip... LET'S GO!"

I don't even get to finish my sandwich, _'I am so freaking slow when I eat'_ , before Mabel grabs my arm and drags me and Dipper out the front door. Bill follows willingly, of course, having a big grin on his face as he laughs at our pain.

 _'I don't think Mabel knows her own strength...'_ I groan.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: My old Halloween party I went to in grade school!~~**

We soon arrive at a store called Phantom. _'This world's equivalent to Spirit?'_

"Wait. Why do we have to shop? I can just conjure what we nee-!" Bill gets cut off by Mabel.

"No! That, like, totally takes away the fun of shopping and trying on different costumes! It's lame if you put in no effort!"

"Eh... What if you're, like, super lazy and don't wanna do anything that requires work?" Bill throws him arms out at me in agreement with what I said.

"No! We're gonna have fun! Plus this is our time for new memories for you, Macie!" She pulls out her camera phone this time, "Click!" saying the sound effect as she takes me and Bill's picture. I take a peek at it and almost die on the spot.

My face is so totally not ready for that picture she just took and- oh my gosh!- Bill has the most perfect face! He was in the middle of looking disapproved by Mabel's memory claims and his eyes are half squinted and- ***Wheeze***.

I can't help it. I take hold the camera and zoom in. That only made my laughing worse as I fall to the floor.

"Jeez, Ring, I can't look _that_ bad can I?" Bill asks as he takes the camera from my hand. "Oh my goodness!" He then lobs the device far across the store. I sober at that moment and stand up. Seconds later, a crash and an over-dramatic, shrill shriek rings out. _'I'm gonna assume the phone hit one of those 'STEP ON ME' buttons and activated a display.'_

"Ouch.." Dipper winces, closing his eyes. He and I both know what's coming next.

I stare my brother dead in the eye and say, "Run." The boy takes off, but before I follow, I give the former triangle dream demon a sympathetic look, which he only returns with a confused one.

 _'He'll see what I mean in 3..2..1..'_

And that's when Mabel exploded.

 **~~Time Skip bright to you by: "Krabby Patties go right to your thighs! ...And then you'll blow up!"~~**

Dipper and I stayed close by when Mabel flipped out, eager to see what would happen to the poor demon. First, Mabel was livid, then she started to tear up, making Bill panic as, he quotes, he doesn't know what to do when a girl cries.

Quickly thinking on his feet, he conjures a new phone and presents it to the girl, who happily takes it, sniffs and wipes her eyes, saying thank you, but not before punching him in the shoulder.

"We good to go now?" I ask, coming out from our hiding spot behind a shelf of accessories.

"Yeah! Look! Bill got me a super camera phone!" Mabel holds it up and shows off some of the new features.

"Cool." I smile. "So what are we gonna do for costumes?"

"Right! I was thinking of getting some of my friends from school to be in on it! That way, we'll have the biggest group!"

"Who would we invite? We don't exactly have that many friends... and I'm pretty sure Bill over here has his own plans..." Dipper jabs his thumb towards said boy.

"Huh?" Bill was spaced out but came back at mention of his name. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be...get ready for this...it's the scariest thing in existence... ME! Ahahahaha~!"

I face palm. Of course he thinks the scariest thing in existence is him. Why wouldn't he? He is very egotistical.

"Whaaaaat? Seriously?!" My sister whines.

"Uh, yeah? I don't wanna be apart of your, ragtag group of kids dressing up in, let's say, three blind mice!"

"We aren't gonna be three blind mice!" Dipper exasperates, tired of discussing this.

"Guys, please, can we just figure out what we're gonna be!? Let's meet up here in fifteen minutes with ideas and outfits, then we can discuss." Everyone seems to contemplate my proposal before agreeing and heading off. _'Finally...this is getting to be so drawn out.'_

I sigh, pooped out from today's events and it's only...two in the afternoon. The bash starts in four hours, so we really don't have time to plan anything big. How does Mabel expect to get some of her friends in on this when they might already have plans and what not?

That's why I think it should just be the three of us. I'd say four, but...I kinda wanna see how Bill is gonna dress as himself.

Half an hour later, I can only come up with a couple costume ideas. Mabel and I meet up front more while I think Dipper is still in the back and who knows where Bill went off to. "Whadya got?"

Mabel sighs, looking a bit dejected, "I called Kinsey and Carly but they already had plans for what they're wearing..."

"Aw," I wrap an arm around her shoulder, "it's okay, Mabes, we'll just do it the three of us."

"Wait...I've got the best idea..." Mabel gently takes my arm off her and quickly dashes off, leaving me to stand there flabbergasted. Suddenly, Dipper comes up, staring off where Mabel took her leave, with a pile of assorted clothing, wigs, weapons, and other such Halloween-y things.

"What the heck did you say to her?" he asks.

I splutter, "N-nothing! She just said that she got an idea all of a sudden and then took off! Don't blame me!" I finish with a laugh as I come to terms with what the heck just happened and how ridiculous my nerdy brother looks at the moment.

"What?" Dipper looks away embarrassed, giving me the assumption that he knows just what I'm talking about.

"Got enough costumes there?" I quirk my eyebrow with a smirk on my lips.

"Sh-shut up, you don't remember going costume shopping with Mabel. I've learned you got to pick up everything that might remotely interest her."

I open my mouth for a second before saying, "Ah. So, what kinds you got?"

"Uh, just a sec," The clothes topple to the ground. I bend down to help him pick them up, but I realize he did this on purpose to find what he wanted in a faster manner. "I found some triple group ones, condiments, uhhh, ketchup, mustard and mayo... Oh, I liked this one-" He holds up a cow costume, an alien, and a UFO.

I snort, covering my mouth and nose as he can't help but laugh, too.

"I know, I know, it's great," he says through chortles.

I nod, still laughing through my nose.

"What about you?"

"Me? I mean- I thought about some, browsed a bit, but I only have one good idea out of all the time we've been here."

"Cool, what? Where're the outfits?"

I rub the nape of my neck, "Uh, they wouldn't be sold here... It's probably impossible to get..." Dipper looks confused. "I'll show all of you when we get home, yeah?"

"Alright," he shrugs, "let's gather the others then."

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Put in your guesses now! What group costume do you think Macie's thinking of?! HINT: It's an AU~~**

"Quit whining!"

"Noooo, they didn't have me! Why wouldn't they have me!? Like, I'm the most feared being in the universe!"

"Were, Cipher, probably were... See, I don't think people even know about you like they did back in the day."

"What? That's ridiculous!"

Bill and I argue about his status while the twins grab some snacks downstairs. Said ex-dream demon is upset about my claims. "Just, shut up, will you? It's not a big deal. Just conjure something."

"I can't conjure anything that has to do with my old self..."

"Well, rest in peace then."

"Rest in peace? I'm not dead..." he trails off as the bedroom door opens. The twins walk in with smiles and crackers.

"Hey guys! We got cheese and crackerrrrs~!" I smile as Mabel happily places the tray on my computer desk off to the side.

"Yum," Dipper grabs one, after setting down a couple water bottles, dipping it in the cheese and munching greedily.

"So. The group costume?" Bill deadpans, probably not in the mood now that I said no one probably knows him anymore.

"Right," I spin in my computer chair and boot up the web. "So I was thinking we could dress up as you guys, but from an AU." The two give each other looks.

 _'Also, where the heck did Bill go? He was here a minute ago...?'_ Never-minding Bill's absence, I explain, "An AU, in shows and literally anything, means alternate universe where things can be super different or just mildly different. This one is called Reverse Falls. So basically, the roles of Gideon, Pacifica, and you two, are reversed."

"Wait, so we're Gideon and Pacifica?" Mabel asks with a hint of disgust in her eyes.

"No, no, you two are the evil Gleeful twins while Gideon and his cousin Pacifica takes a trip up to Gravity Falls."

"Okay first, that's a horrible AU, second, what about Bill? Is he in it?"

I chuckle at my brother, "Yeah, he is."

"AWESOME! WHERE AM I? AM I EVEN MORE EVIL!?" Us triplets startle as Bill suddenly falls from the ceiling.

"What the hey, Bill!? Where were you!?"

"Relax, Shooting Star, I was on the roof looking at different things that you don't need to know about..."

Dipper's eyes squint as he crosses his arms, "Bill...What were you doing? You better tell us," he demands, completely serious.

"Dude, guys, chill. I..." he sighs, "I was just trying on some costumes..." His cheeks flush.

 _'Aw! He's embarrassed!'_

"What...were...you...dressing...up...as?" Mabel says curiously slow.

"Um...me?" he shyly admits.

"Pfffffft, hahahaha!" I let out a hefty, high pitched squeal. The others look at me but I can't see them through the tears forming.

"Whaaat?" Bill whines.

"Just-...haha, just lemme see what you were trying out."

He just looks at me with a glare.

"Please?" I beg, giving him my best puppy eyes. I'll probably never be as good as my professional sister.

"Fine..."

Mabel whoops while Dipper looks pleasingly amused.

With a snap of his fingers, and a little bit of blue flames, Bill stands where he stood like normal, except for the fact that he's donning a giant, foam, triangle version of himself with his head sticking out in the middle.

The top hat's on top, his one eye near the top, arms and legs protruding from their respective places. Finally, the classic brick pattern and bow tie rests perfectly in place.

Dipper, Mabel, and I all give each other glances. Mabel is squeezing her cheeks in with stars in her eyes, but keeps silent. Dipper is looking about to explode. His hands over his mouth doesn't stop his quivering in trying to control his laughter.

"Alright," I spread my hands out, "I'll say it first..."

Then we all exploded into laughter.

Except Bill. He looks completely done with this universe.

"Guys stop laughing." We don't. "Come on, Pine Tree, Ring, Shooting Star, stop!" Nope. "It's not funny! Argh... ENOUGH!"

I stop instantly, flinching at his voice. Memories of Weirdmageddon flash in my head. In the corner of my eye, I can see my siblings flinch, too, though they did so more severely.

"I-..." Bill isn't sure what to say or do, so he teleports out of my room.

"Y'all okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. But have you ever seen Bill like that?" Dipper starts.

"So...so remorseful?" Mabel finishes.

I shake my head no.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Does anybody here play Dead By Daylight? Oh my gosh it's one of my favorite games! We should play sometime!~~**

"So you guys are really okay?" I ask my twins with my foot halfway out the front door.

Mabel giggles, "Yes, Macie, we're fine, just took us by surprise is all."

I look to my brother and he nods in agreement.

"Just go already, Mace! Me and Mabel are gonna research some more of that AU."

"Alright, alright!" I wave. "Be back later!"

And so, I start my journey to 'Aiden's' house. Bill actually gave the twins and me his address a while back, but we just never had a purpose of going over since he always just appears.

Literally.

 **I decided to end it here and split this into two parts because I wanted to publish this ASAP! Yay! Long chapter! I hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter: The Halloween bash and a look into Bill's house!**


	19. The Halloween Bash

**Hey everyone! I've been extremely busy lately! The weekend of 19th 20th and 21st was Portland's Retro Gaming Expo and I went to that all three days XD It was so much fun! You can check out my pictures on Instagram under the same name.**

 **October 27th 2012**

 _I've never met 'Aiden's' parents, what do I say? Oh I really hope Bill answers...Crap, did I knock already? If I have should I do it again? Or would that be rude? Crap crap crap!'_

Despite my better judgement, I knock. Soon, a man greets me. _'It's the dad! Even worse! Gah!'_

"Um, hi." I awkwardly wave. "Is Bi- Aiden here?"

"One moment please."

"O-" the door slams, "-kay."

Not knowing what to do, I resort to teetering on my feet and awkwardly looking around. The house stands next to others, kinda like mine, in a simple, stereotypical neighborhood. It seems like hours are going by before the front door opens back up and Bill answers.

He looks pretty annoyed, remorseful and uncertain. _'Are these good emotions? I'm not sure...'_

"Yeah?"

"Erm...this is the time you invite me in...?"

A shocked look of realization settles in on the 7th grader's face. "Oh! Uh-er, I mean...come in?" He doesn't move out of the way.

I giggle, thanking him and brushing passed him. Then, turning around, I expect for my former enemy to do something, but he just stands there, avoiding eye contact.

"Um, could we speak? In your room?" I shyly ask.

He starts guiding me through a nearby hallway, pointing. "Sure... it's over here."

From my brief appearance in Bill's house, I gather that, although it looks to be two story from the outside, it's actually a simple one story but with a big attic. I know this because from the outside look...and the string I just ran into hanging from the ceiling with a visual door implanted there.

The walls are littered with family photos and the occasional Christ portraits and other religious things, like a crucifix.

 _'Bill wasn't joking...'_

"Every time I'm in this house, it gives me the shivers... I'll bet the AXOLOTL put me here on purpose..." I give the boy a pat of pity on the back.

Curious, I ask, "Does this stuff usually do this to you regardless the form?"

"Yeah, most of the time. I've been trying to drown it out... but that...church...building..." Bill doesn't finish his sentence, instead, violently shivering.

I silently laugh through my nose, making sure he doesn't see. "So what brought on the random visit? I'd prefer going to your place for obvious reasons."

"Well..." I tilt my head, "You kinda just...fled without reason so. Plus," I lean in to whisper nervously, "your dad is kinda scary."

"Tell me about it!" That Bill Cipher flare starts back up a little. "He's super big and scary but then sometimes he's super nice and soft! Who does that! This is some chaotic good over here and I'm not liking it. I'm the chaotic evil type of guy."

"Yeah. I got that already," I deadpan.

"Ugh, they're so strict, too! 'Aiden' has to go to bed at nine o'clock sharp! I'm a being of pure energy and no weaknesses, except tickling, who has a bedtime! A bedtime!"

This time, I full blown laugh. Bill whining, like the kid he is, is entertaining and joyful.

Unbeknownst to me, Bill stares at me with a genuine smile.

"Anyway," I stop laughing, "here's my room," and enter the boy's room. It's pretty typical for your average middle-schooler. Simple desk- no computer-, a bed- of course!- and wall posters of a mixture of fandoms.

"Cool room."

"Thanks..." Bill rubs his neck, "it's not that cool, though."

"I like the aesthetically pleasing triangles written on the walls. Oh and don't think I didn't see the giant Cipher Wheel drawn on the ceiling." I laugh and point a finger up without looking.

His cheeks flush ferociously to a deep shade of red that would put Hookfang to shame.

"Sh-shut up! What is it you wanted anyway?" He pouts and slams down face first onto his bed. _'So cute! Bill Cipher pouting like a child!'_

"I wanted to see if you were okay since you just poofed out so quickly before we could do anything..."

Shooting up, Bill has his eyebrows furrowed, surprising me into taking a step back by how angry he looks. "You came to check on me?! I'm the one that scared you three! I was so mad that I didn't think! I yelled at you guys and you're checking on me to see if _I'm_ okay!? You...heh...you really are something, Ring..." he spits, sitting back down.

"Bill," I step carefully, my tone of voice on the down low. "I came to check on you because we're friends and Dipper, Mabel, and I were worried. You got mad because we were teasing you and on behalf of all of us, we're very sorry. We shouldn't have done that."

He sniffs and wipes his nose, "Well...I was just so worried what you guys would do since I did that and got scared... And when I got to my room, I thought to myself, I'm Bill Cipher! How and why did I get scared!? All of these emotions are so confusing!"

Giggling, I sit next to him and pat his back. "That's called being human, Bill. It's not so bad once you get used to it. Take it from me. Since being REBORNed, I had to sort out all sorts of new emotions. What made it better was getting to be in my favorite show!"

"Gravity Falls is your favorite show?"

"It's up there on the list!"

"Awwww, Ring! Who's your favorite character?"

 _'Should I be honest and burst his bubble or...? Nah, look at his face!'_

"Dipper." _'THAT'S NOT WHAT I WAS GONNA SAY!'_

"WHAT!? Oh crap, sorry! I mean, what?!"

"I'm sorry! Well, okay, technically he and Mabel are. But you're my second fav if that's any consolation?"

"Mmmm," he ponders, "Yes. Yes it is." Laughing, we share a meaningful hug.

"Thanks...Macie."

"Awww, you said my actual name!"

"Don't push it."

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: ME! Actually writing more of this story. I'm so lost it's not funny :( ~~**

After Bill and I made our way back to my house, Dipper and Mabel told us they've been researching the Reverse Falls AU. Dipper doesn't want to do it but Mabel insists since she loves the outfits they wear. Of course Dipper can't argue for long, so Mabel goes and writes down what we need.

Bill's on board, too, saying something about being the opposite of himself could be exhilarating and or terrible but wants to find out anyways. "So we'll need those amulets. Three." I lean over my sister as she lists things off.

Dipper points at our friend. "Bill, you're in charge of getting things we cannot, like the amulet."

"Done." With a snap of his fingers, three crystal blue amulets fall onto our necks.

"Pretty!" Mabel gushes, lifting hers up to inspect.

I nod in agreement, the blues are beautifully mixed together.

"Wait." I look at a picture of the twins from the AU. "Mabel!" She turns around. Somehow, she looks like she already knows what I'm gonna say. "Only Dipper's supposed to have an amulet!"

She sighs, pouting, "But, Macie! They're so pretty I wanted all of us to have one!"

"I'm staying out of this. But let me tell you, Mace," I turn to my brother, "I've already tried to reason with the girl about the costumes but she doesn't care."

"Ugh, Mabel! I thought we were gonna do everything authentic!"

"But it's not like anyone would know if it's _not_ authentic!"

"Shooting Star's got a point..."

"Can it, Bill!" After that I burst out laughing. It's really no use in arguing over something so little. "Alright alright, we all have an amulet. I really like it anyway."

"Whoopee! What's next? Oh! Me, you, Dipper, and Bill should go back to Phantom to get the rest of the clothes!"

"Ehhh," I shake my hand, "Do I have to? Do _we_ have to? Bill can just do everything!"

"Could I see a picture of my reverse self?" Bill shyly asks as he walks up to me at the table.

"Yeah, here." I get one up. I go back to talk about the plan when a sparkly sound effect goes off. We all turn to the only one who can do magic and gape, jaws hanging low.

Bill's standing there in an entire new look. Blue hair, same top hat and eye patch. Perfect interpretation of human Bill's clothing except it's now blue. And, to top it off perfectly, instead of his cane, he has light blue glowing, almost translucent, shackles on his wrists.

Mabel's the first to speak, of course, "OH MY GOOOOSH! YOU ARE SO FREAKING ADORABLE I CAN'T EVEN!"

I face palm. _'Mabel, please don't say that again...'_

"Dude you look _really_ good, Bill," Dipper compliments with a smile and crossed arms.

"Ah, thanks, Pine Tree, Shooting Star... I wasn't really sure about the shackles, 'cause even though this isn't me, I feel like the great...Will? Will Cipher wouldn't be shackled like an animal. But I guess it does look good, huh?" he turns to me with the final question.

I smile, giving him a thumbs up. "Yeah. You look amazing. We just have to win the contest!"

"Our turn! Let's go guys!" Ignoring the girl, I silently give a couple hand motions to the dream demon in the room, who then gets what I'm insinuating and snaps his finger. "BILL!"

The last thing Dipper and I hear is a banshee's screech and an adolescent boy's shrill screams as the two run out the front door.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Time for the Halloween Bash! Are ya ready kids?~~**

It's finally time for the party and my siblings and I, plus Bill, are standing outside the large doors. "This is gonna be great!" Bill throws his fist in the air.

 _'I'm glad to see Bill enjoying human customs.'_

Being able to do this with Dipper and Mabel is all I need and their smiles are the best part.

As soon as we enter, Halloween music blasts, the whole place is dim but nicely lit up with an assortment of lights, and various decorations littered around. "This place looks great!" Mabel jumps ahead to take in everything as we wait in line to buy tickets for games.

"Do you wanna go on ahead and enter us in the contest, Mabes?" I ask, shoving my hands in my skirt pockets. _'It's pretty chilly even in here and I'm in a skirt!'_

"Sure! Aiden, come with me!" She drags the poor boy away with her superhuman strength. Dipper laughs as she does so.

The line moved along quickly so we wasted no time in getting to the front. Of course Dipper pulled out his wallet and spoke for the two of us, ordering forty tickets for twenty bucks.

 _'I always thought these kinds of things were super overpriced, but Dipper doesn't seem to care what with that giant smile on his lips.'_

"What do you wanna play? We each get ten tickets so don't worry about not having enough." He hands me my share and I pocket them.

"Thank you. Hmm..." I look over at the games and such. "How about that one? That way the others can spot us when they come looking." I point to a giant crafted tree with what looks like lollipops sticking out of a hundred some holes.

"Good idea!"

When we get close, I recognize the aim of the game. "Oh! They had this when I was little! You pull out a sucker and depending on the colored tip of the end of the stick, the better the prize!"

"That's awesome! How many?" Dipper asks the volunteer running the table.

"One ticket each please." The lady smiles, a mummy mask plastered over her eyes. I hand over one, as does Dipper, and reach out to grab a piece of candy.

"I don't like much flavors, so I'll pick the blue raspberry," I announce, pulling it out and spinning it around. Green.

"Green? That's a free bag of chips at the snack table. Here you go." She hands me a coupon for exactly what she said.

"Thank you. Go Dipper."

"Alright, I'll take the butterscotch one." He flips it over. Orange.

"Ooo! Orange! A king size candy bar for you, young man!" Dipper's eyes light up as the woman holds a basket of large candy bars. My brother quickly picks his and thanks the adult.

"That was fun, we should do it again later."

"Mmm." I nod 'yes' as we make our way to the dance floor. "Aiden! Mabel!" I holler the two names, gaining unwanted attention but also the intended attention.

"Hey guys," Mabel pants, "sorry we didn't come back. I was showing Bill some dance moves."

"Shooting Star!? Am I doing it right?!" Bill shouts over the music.

"Oh my gosh..." I cover my mouth. "Is he- is he whipping? Mabel what did you do?!" I double over in laughter. Dipper's having a hard time containing himself, too.

"Shhh!" Mabel shushes us then turns to the struggling kid. "You're doing great, Aiden!"

"Goodness... So the contest, when is it?"

"Uhh, about an hour and a half," she answers me with a flip of her hair. The costumes look great on everyone. It's even better looking seeing the real deal in fan made AU clothing.

 _I_ even look great if I do say so myself. And I usually dress lazy.

"Oh! Here's your share of tickets, Mabel. I'll give these to Aiden." The male brunette hands his female counterpart her tickets and leaves us for Bill.

"Any cool games?"

"Yeah," I point to where they are, "I saw bingo, too, wanna play that? We can teach Bill how to play!"

She gasps, "Yeah! That'll be so fun!"

Soon after Dipper gathered Bill, the four of us made our way to the bingo area, where many kids and parents alike were sitting down with playing cards in hand and a bag of candy corn as markers. We wait for the current game to end and take some seats, cards, and markers. "Do you know how to play bingo, Aiden?"

"Of course I know how to play bingo! Who do you think I am?! Some caveman? And don't even think of comparing me to them, I've watched them before, they're gross." We all laugh.

"Good, that means we can focus and not have to deal with your cluelessness for once," I tease with my tongue sticking out.

Bill mocks being offended while he leans back with a gasp and a hand to his chest.

"Alright is everyone ready?" The announcer man doesn't let us answer before he says the first letter and number. "B four."

 _'I don't have that one...'_ Looking over, I see Mabel does but the others don't. She's kicking her legs while off to the side she's making a smiley face out of candy corn.

"Oh one."

 _'That one I don't have either!'_ Bill and Dipper do, though.

"B seventeen."

 _'Finally!'_

"BINGO!"

 _'WHAT!?'_

Someone springs out of their seat. An adult quickly sits the child back down and apologizes, bending down to scold the kid. _'Phew... It was just some little kid...'_

"You look tense, Mace. You okay?" I startle and stare at Dipper.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just want to win something for once, heh..." I sheepishly laugh while rubbing the back of my neck.

"BINGO!" This time, it's Bill who jumps up.

"What the what?!" Mabel cries, looking as confused as I am.

"Bill!" Dipper leans over and whispers harshly, "How did you win we've only gotten three calls so far?"

"I conjured some candy corn, hehehehe.." I face palm. He looks genuinely smug and happy with what he did so I'm not even gonna say anything.

"But...you wouldn't need to make anymore candy corn appear..." Mabel points out, gesturing to her bag, "You'd have plenty to fill an entire board."

"Uh..." Bill's eyes go downcast.

I look to the playing board he has in his hand, where, I'm not even surprised anymore, candy corn seems to magically be sticking on. _'Wha...'_ "Those aren't even the correct color pallet for candy corn!" The candy he poofed up were green, purple, and blue. "Not even one color was right..." I sigh, "Never mind! It was a mistake!"

The announcer seems to grumble but continues. "I want to win, too..." The boy grumbles with a pout and sits back down.

Sometimes this dream demon is too cute to get annoyed at.

FINALLY a _real_ bingo was called out. I was only one away, too! Some kid dressed in a superhero costume had the biggest smile, though, so I guess I'm okay with losing to him.

As we wander to find something else to do, Mabel jumps in place. "That kid was so freaking cute! I just wanted to pinch his cheeks!"

Dipper laughs, "I don't think his parents would have liked that, Mabel."

"They would've loved it..." She waves them off. "Oh! Let's play one more game or two before the contest!"

"THIS ONE!" Bill Cipher startles all of us and a few kids in the vicinity with his excitement. He's pointing to what looks like a bean bag toss. Who knew an evil triangle would get over excited about beans in a bag.

"Four tickets." We each hand one over to the man running it. Bill goes first and- _'Oh wow, he made it while totally_ _ **not**_ _levitating it a little bit...'_

"Boom! Gimme candy!" he demands, making grabby motions like a four year old. I decide to ignore him while Dipper goes. His bag only make it a foot in front of him.

"Aw..." he sighs.

"Hahaha, it's like when you threw that water balloon at Mabel back in Gravity Falls!" I giggle.

"It's not funny..." _'I'd like to think the small smile forming on your lips begs to differ!'_

"You can have what I win." I switch to baby talk, "Would that make you happy Dippy wippy?"

"Yes..."

I laugh and throw my bean bag, easily scoring the win, handing over the prize to my brother as Mabel goes.

Of course with her powerful arms she makes it in no time.

"Can we do the contest yet?" I ask, growing a little bored.

"Yup," Shooting Star confirms, "follow me!"

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Halloween is coming up! What are you guys going to be? I don't even know who I'm being yet...~~**

"And now! Our next contestants! Aiden and the Pines triplets, Mabel, Dipper and Macie!" An average sized audience claps as we step up the small makeshift stage. So far, a lot of people have been up here. Mostly little kids wanting attention, but there were some costumes that looked like they were going to be hard to beat!

 _'I feel bare...'_ I subconsciously cross my legs in attempts to hide my bare knees.

We only had to answer a couple questions before going back to sit down and await the results.

"You nervous?" My sister asks as she swings her legs giddily.

"No. Maybe? I dunno, I shouldn't be." I feel my forehead. It's hot and sweaty. _'Man, what is wrong with me?'_

"It'll be okay! If we don't win first, I'm sure we'll win another place! Our costumes are awesome thanks to Bill, and you showing us in the first place!"

"Thanks Mabel. How do you always know what to say?"

"It's a gift!"

"In third place is... Aiden and the Pines triplets!" We meet each other's faces with shock written all over.

Mabel jumps up first, running up the stage and twirling, causing more applause. Dipper follows suit almost immediately, though more bashful and shy than his sister. Bill practically drags me up.

"Third place prize for this lovely group, I love the costumes by the way! So unique and beautiful! Third place prize is a thirty dollar gift card to frozen yogurt!" The man hands Mabel a plastic gift card.

"Woo! I love frozen yogurt! You're gonna love it, Aiden!" I laugh since Mabel must have caught the same confused look on Bill's face that I had.

Time sped by fast as it was getting close to closing. Most people already left while the select few stayed behind to enjoy more festivities. Like us. We played more games, won more prizes; nothing big unfortunately.

We're down to our last ticket each and decided to play the lollipop tree for the final time.

"Okay, this time, one of us has to win!" Dipper pumps his fists, picking his sucker first. "Blue..."

"Oh come on! I got nothing...again!" Bill throws his hands in the air. I stifle a giggle. The last few times we played this, Bill kept getting no color on the end of the stick.

"Black! That's the second best!" _'I wonder what I'll get!'_ The adult- different from before- pulls out a small envelope.

"Congrats! I know you guys already won a gift card from the contest, but the gift for pulling a black is a five dollar gift card to the same frozen yogurt place."

"No," I grab it and pocket the card, "it's totally okay. Thank you. Mabel," She looks up from her phone. "your turn."

"Come on, come on, gimme the big win!" she chants, looking from only about four suckers left sticking from the tree.

"How has nobody won the grand prize yet? Seems super unlikely.." Dipper comments with a finger to his chin. "I would think a lot more people would use all their tickets for such an expensive prize."

He's right, it _is_ an extravagant winning. Especially for a school party! Why did they decide to give away a small TV? Oh well, I hope Mabel wins it because the ticket stand is closed and this is our last chance.

Annnnnnnnd ***Pop*** Out came the lollipop. The color is...

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Cliffhangers! Can I get an OOF?~~**

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _10-27-12_

 _Today was amazing! Spending time with the twins and Bill was a lot of fun. Especially dressing up like we did. Bill's really good at making stuff appear! It's so convenient! Right no_w_

 _Ugh, Mabel bumped my elbow. I shouldn't be writing with a pen..._

 _Right now, Mabel won't settle down as she's way too happy she won that TV. She kept going on about how lucky she is on the way home. Bill got all pouty saying he should have won since he didn't get a TV in his room._

 _Mabel, being Mabel, cooed at the kid and promised him he could watch with her sometime together._

 _How cute._

 _You should have seen everyone's faces back at the party when she turned the sucker stick around. Even the volunteer looked shocked! What if they planned it to not have a purple colored stick? That way no one would have won and no money would have been lost!_

 _Meh. I don't think the school would do that... would they?_

 _It's getting late and Mabel keeps switching the TV channels. I keep telling her we already have a TV, but her excuse is saying 'Why have one when we can have two!? AND it's on the ceiling!'_

 _Yes, the TV is on the freaking ceiling. Not to mention the boy laying next to her munching on popcorn, yelling at her to keep it on one channel._

 _Children...-_

"Bill! Mabel! Shut up! I'm trying to write!"

 _-I should probably stop for now anyways. I'm running out of paper, hah._

 _Macie~~_

 **Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all enjoyed!**

 **So since I wrote this bash, I'm not going to write out an entire Halloween chapter. Macie and the twins will reference it and what they wore on Halloween night but I've decided to skip right into November, sorry!**

 **Also, Bill and the triplets won third place in the contest because that's the place my brother and I got in the Mario Kart Double Dash tournament at the Expo!**


	20. Meet The Pines

**Title is a nod to the TOTALLY UNDERRATED film; Meet The Robinsons**

 **November 15**

"Science fair?" I scrunch my nose. "Ehhhh I'm not good at this kind of stuff... Plus, I've never ever done one."

Mabel puts a finger to her chin in thought. "Well... It's not too important to our grade, but you should still at least do something and have a project... It'll probably be worth it in the long run."

"Actually, Mabel," Dipper chimes in matter-of-factly, "the science fair has _no_ influence on your science grades _unless_ you win. In that case, the science teacher will be sure to put in a good word for the college of your choosing!" With his fists close to his chest, Dipper quivers in excitement, "Oooo I'm so excited!"

"Okay, so we know _Dipper's_ doing the project..." Mabel crosses her arms and looks away with a look of distaste.

I furrow my brows in confusion before turning back to my brother. "So it's not required?" My hopes rise a little bit.

"No it's definitely required." And there it all goes. Down the drain only to return as despair. "It just doesn't affect your grade. Think of it as for fun but you gotta do it."

"Doesn't sound very fun to me," I pout. Pine Tree chuckles, patting my back.

"It's okay. We'll all help each other out! Now, though, we gotta figure out what each of us is going to do!" _'Is it just me or is Dipper being all overly-confident right now?'_

"Come on, Mace, let's go back to our room." Mabel drags me from my elbow. On our way out, I can hear Dipper mumbling about tons of science-y things.

But what really got me was how egotistical he sounded just then.

"Erm, Mabes?" I writhe my hands together nervously, not really knowing if she's in the mood to talk from her body language. She stops from pacing and stares at me with innocence, so I'm in the go. "Is Dipper always this confident during the science fair?"

She sighs, "Since you don't know, I'll explain." The girl pats the seat next to her after she took a spot on her bed, so I join. "Every year we have science fairs. Before, they were purely for fun. But this year, for some reason, is different- I'm not sure why... Anyways, every year Dipper loses to his rival, Alex. He's constantly obsessed with beating them!"

"Oh I remember that kid. We don't have any classes with em' except Dipper, right?"

"Yup! So this year Dipper's been talking to me about this genius idea he's had for a while now and he won't shut up about it! He's extremely over confident about himself and- honestly? it's getting annoying... Every year I want to do something with him but he always gets caught up in his own stuff..." I frown as the usually happy girl sighs sadly as she grips her arm and looks down.

"Awwww... Come're.." I hold my arms out and she shuffles slowly into them. I enclose my arms around her and rub her back. "It's okay, Mabes. Dipper doesn't what he's doing, being so obsessed with beating Alex, but I'll talk to him for you okay?"

"You-you'd do that for me?"

"Of course I will!" _'I feel like a mother.'_

"Thanks Macie. I just feel so stupid for feeling like this. Like, why do I feel so left out when I have you here with me, too?"

I have to think about this one for a second. Then I remember. "Hey remember Pioneer Day?" I feel her head nod on my chest. "Well, remember when you two practically forgot I was there when we were chasing down the real founder of Gravity Falls?" Another nod. "Well I think that's what's happening. I don't really know how to explain but... I feel that's the best explanation and you shouldn't feel bad about it."

"Thanks Macie. You're the best."

I giggle, "I know. Now can we go to sleep? I'm tired!"

"Heehee, yeah okay! Let's go have a toothbrush race!"

"Oh you're so on!"

"Race you to the bathroom!"

I laugh as I chase after my sister.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Sisterly bonding!~~**

"So do you know what you're doing?" I ask Dipper at the dinner table as we eat breakfast. His mood seems to have deflated since last night as he nit picks at his cereal.

He throws his arms up, accidentally spilling some milk on the table but I don't think he noticed, "No! I completely, absolutely, have no idea on what to do for the science fair! It has to be great- no, amazing! And I haven't the slightest thing to beat Alex!"

And there goes his face. Slammed down onto the wooden surface in despair. Normally, I'd be patting his back with pity, but ever since Mabel admitted her feelings about this event, I want to rip into him.

Now I know it's not the boy's fault, but it still makes me mad he ignores Mabel, albeit unintentionally. "Er...can't you have partners for the fair?" _'Now I'm just winging it...'_ "Cuz if so, you should totally pair up with Mabel! I'll bet she has tons of creative ideas!"

"I dunno...Mabel's never been good at the science fair."

"Oh come on! What did we do in the past?"

"You never tried on yours," _'Sounds like me alright!'_ "and Mabel's projects almost always fail or embarrasses herself."

"So then why don't you two work on something together? That way, it'll be creative and unique on Mabel's behalf and on yours, it'll work properly and win, resulting in beating your long time rival. I still need to meet Alex..." I ponder at the end of my suggestion.

"Maybe..." He's still groaning to himself and it's starting to wear on my patience, so I get up and discard the remaining cereal I didn't eat into the garbage before dumping my bowl in the sink.

No more words are exchanged as I leave to my room.

"Hey Mabes." I walk in and see my sister writing something down on a notebook. "Whatcha up to?"

She looks up and gives me a brace-filled smile. "Not much, just jotting down some ideas for my project." Then, shyly, she adds, "I was sorta wondering if you'd pair up with me."

"What happened to partnering with Dip?" I ask with a quirked eyebrow, slightly surprised.

She waves her hand. "Eh, even with you talking to him, I doubt he'd even want to pair up anyways."

"Aw come on, Mabel, you shouldn't think like that. What happened to being optimistic?"

"With this sort of thing, it's not really worth it." And with that the brunette goes back to her writing. I sigh sadly and jump on to my computer.

 _'I've been planning to use this on a good day, but I think the twins could use it now...'_ I type up in the search bar for the infomercial Alex Hirsch did with the voice actors of Dipper and Mabel. _'This video is so freaking funny! I hope they like it. They've never seen what their actors look like...'_

"Hey Mabes?" I spin in my chair to look at her. She audibly grunts in reply but doesn't stop what she's doing. "Wanna see a video from my universe?" Instantaneously the girl jumps up with a humongous smile.

She's jittering in excitement that makes my heart swell. "Yes, yes- YES! Do you even have to ask? What kind is it? How long is it? Does it have me in it?!"

I can't answer all her questions at once so I just laugh. "Um, let's see," I look up with a finger on my chin, "A fun video, not too long, and technically yes, it has you in it."

"Woohoo!"

"Go get Dipper!" I tell her while turning back to the screen to maximize it and make sure they don't see anything prematurely when she gets back with our brother.

"You're finally going to show us another video, Macie?! I'm so excited! What's the occasion!?" _'Dipper's enthusiasm can sometimes match Mabel's. Which is saying something fierce!'_

"I'm showing you two this so _you_ ," I point to the boy, "can do something _together_ with your sister for the science fair. The premise of this 'infomercial'," I emphasize the word with bunny ears, "is that your voice actors are trying to sell their inventions hilariously and pretty much fail. I'm thinking you two can gain something from it and maybe even try your hand at the inventions yourselves."

I see the female brunette's eyes widen at this. I can tell she's grateful for what I'm doing.

"Wait- our voice actors? We're going to see the people who voiced us?! That's so awesome! Oo, play it, play it, play it!" I smirk at the boy. _'See what I mean?'_

"Geez Dipper, over enthusiastic much?" Mabel teases with an elbow jab.

"Wh-what? You're one to say!" He blushes and covers his face poorly in embarrassment.

"Here it is!" I press play and the two lean in eagerly.

Immediately, Mabel's voice actor, Kristen Schaal, begins to speak. Of course Mabel picks up on her voice and gasps loudly, slamming her hand down on the space bar to stop the video.

"Whoaoa! Is SHE my voice actor?! She's so cute! Oh my gosh this is so weird!" I laugh a little, wondering to myself what Dipper might think about Jason.

Soon, the actor gets thrown a copy of the Journal 3 and inspects it.

"Oh! That's like the one you have, right, Mace?" Dipper asks to which I nod in affirmation.

 **'"Oh, that's Gravity Falls...Journal 3. Oooh." Kristen holds the book to her cheek, staring into the camera. "Now you've heard of book jackets... But have you ever heard of book sweaters?"'**

My sister jumps up and down, gripping my desk. I panic and try to steady her. "Whaaaaaaaaaat? I haven't and whatever it is I need it NOW!"

The camera pans down to show said book sweaters. This time, I make sure to keep Mabel's mouth quiet by putting my hand over it when Kristen gets to the cat sweater and they make a reference to _Mabel's_ sparkly cat sweater. I regret it though as now my palm is wet and sticky.

 _'She must have eaten glue recently...'_ ***Sigh***

"One million dollars for that? Yeah that's Mabel alright." Dipper smirks as he playfully offends the girl.

 **'"Kristen?! What are you doing with my journal?"'** Jason Ritter, amazingly dressed up as Dipper, walks into the scene.

"Ahhhhh it's me! He even looks like me! Oh my gosh he's dressed as me!" _'Dang Dipper's cute.'_

"You cute child, you." I pinch his cheeks.

The boy struggles to get my fingers off him. "Ow, Macie! Stop! I'm trying to watch!"

 **'"Hi, I'm Dipper- err, I mean I'm Jason Ritter."'** I start trying to cover my snorts as I love this part that's coming. **'"Dipper's justa character...he'sjustacharacter."'**

And then I let it loose and burst out laughing. "I cannot express how much I love Jason Ritter!"

But while I'm laughing, Dipper's blushing at the compliment and probably at how his voice actor is in real life, Mabel's pointing at the screen intimidatingly. "Hah! Proved all of you wrong! We ain't 'just a character'! Aha!"

 _'My life is ridiculous...'_

 **'"Anyway!"Jason shoves Kristen aside. "No one wants a sweater for their journal."'**

"Hey!" Mabel pouts, "I would!"

"Yeah that's because you're you..." Dipper retorts.

 **'"This is a serious book filled with dark secrets and should never fall into the wrong hands!"'**

"Pfft, I think someone's taking this a _little_ too seriously... Just like a dorky brother I know..."

"Oh, shut up Mabel!" The twins laugh and punch each other's shoulders happily.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: "I'LL TAKE TEN!"~~**

"I think we can work with this, Mabes! It'll be awesome!" I sit on my bed writing in my journal as I watch the two discuss science fair plans. My plan worked as Dipper is excited to work with his sister.

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _11-15-12_

 _Showing them the video gave both of them the boost of confidence and ideas they needed and while I don't know what I'll do for mine, I'm just glad to see them getting along since, previously, Mabel said they've had issues before._

 _I could probably make a volcano... I've never made one before. Or I could just look online for simple things since we won't be getting graded... Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually._

 _Tomorrow's Friday, which means we'll be going out to eat. AND it's my turn to choose! What should I pick? So many choices!_

 _~Macie_

 **OoF**

 **Sorry I've been gone, lmao. I lost all motivation XD But- of course, no matter how long it takes to be updated,I will NEVER abandon this story. I love it too much :3**

 **Give me food place suggestions and name spoofs with them!**


	21. Keep Moving Forward

**Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions for food places! However, I chose Guest's use of Sandwich Monarch! Don't worry! Others may be used down the road! :)**

 **November 16th**

Sandwich Monarch, this world's equivalent to _'Burger King'._ It's good, just like the original!

"Mm! Nom!" Mabel loudly eats at her chicken nuggets. To the side of her sat a paper cup of ketchup, where her fries are currently residing.

I give her a strange, concealed, look. _'Now don't get me wrong! I put my fries in my dipping sauce like they're in a hot tub, too. But Mabel over here is playing with them as if they are! What the he-'_

"Hey, Macie, are you okay, dear?" Mom's voice cuts off my train of thought.

"Huh? Oh, yeah...I guess I'm just thinking on what to do for the science fair," I admit, dipping a fry into some ranch and then munching on it.

Dad swallows audibly loud. "Ah that's right! When is it again?"

Funny enough, Mabel and I look to our brother at the same time. He splutters and blushes. "Wh-why'd you both look at me?" he cries.

I deadpan, "'Cause you're the one who'd most likely know the answer to the question." Mabel enthusiastically nods.

"That's fair. It's next Wednesday, after school," Dipper explains, wiping his hands on a napkin.

" _Do_ you two know what you're doing? Seeing as you're teaming up, that is." Mom smiles sweetly.

 _'She's probably happy they're working together this time since, from what I've heard, they don't collaborate well during science fairs.'_

"Oh Dipper and I've got this in the BAG!" And there goes all the ketchup and bathing french fries. ***Sigh***

"Daw, come on! You got ketchup all over my pants!" I stand up and look in disgust at my nice, used-to-be-clean, leggings. I growl and go over to the concessions to obtain more napkins.

 _'These were just washed, too...'_ Groaning, I toss the used ones in the trash and take a pile of new ones to the table where there was no doubt a mess.

"Thanks, hun," Dad grabs them and starts wiping down the table.

As I sit back down, Mabel looks to me, ashamed, mumbling, "Sorry, Macie..."

"S'fine. You wouldn't believe how messy my brother and sister were back home," I whisper back with a lopsided smile.

She returns it and resumes eating, albeit carefully this time.

"So," Dad speaks again, "the science fair. What did you two make or have in mind?"

"Well-!" Shooting Star's mouth got covered by Pine Tree's hand faster than a shooting star.

"It's a surprise!" He quickly laughs awkwardly to the parents and then glares at Mabel. "I don't want them knowing what it is! I always have my projects a surprise!"

"But this time it's _our_ project! Why can't we tell them now? It's half mine. That means half the rights!"

"Oh boy..." I roll my eyes and sip my soda.

"So? Why do we _have_ to tell them? Why can't we just keep it a secret?"

"Because I wanted to show it off to them!"

"Mabel!" Dipper pinches his nose and sighs, "We haven't even _made_ it yet! How can you show off something we haven't crafted?!"

"Well I could show off the idea, uh-der!"

"Oh my gosh..." I slap my forehead. Mom and Dad exchange looks to each other. _'An Oreo milkshake sounds good right about now... Maybe Dipper won't notice if I slip a five outta his pocket?'_

Mind made up, I stick my tongue out in concentration as I try to nimbly slip my fingers into my brother's pocket for his wallet. Freeze. He moved. Didn't notice me. Continue. Repeat for a minute or two.

 _'Ah-AH!'_ I successfully procured the leather wallet! I giggle evilly in my mind as I stand up and gleefully pull a five out. Mom and Dad, who watched me the entire time, have smiles on their faces.

"Macie, don't..." Mom tries to be a parent but fails as her chuckles start to escape. I just stick my tongue out and run to the counter.

 _'Hold up.'_ I stop halfway there. A brilliant idea formed. I replace the five with a ten.

"Yes?" the cashier asks, ready to type in my order. "An Oreo, chocolate, and strawberry milkshake, please." I hand her 'my' money and she gives me the receipt.

 _'Cool, now when I get back, I shall settle the argument with milkshakes, 'on me'!'_

They came out quickly, thankfully, and with a cup carrier, too!

"Guyyyyys!" I drawl, swinging the delectables. Dad is busy keeping Mom's laughter under keeps, so I ignore the two. The twins turn to me at the same time, _'Creepy!'_ with glares donning their features.

"What!?" they cry, again, at the same time. I flinch but quickly recompose myself.

"I got milkshakes!" I hold up the carrier and their frowns turn to awes. When they reach for it, I lift it up. "Ah, ah!" I waggle a finger, "Milkshakes are only for good siblings that get along!"

"Mmmmmmmm- OkayI'msorryDipperwe'llkeepitasecret!" Mabel says all in breath, leaping up to grab her favorite shake.

 _'I knew Mabes would crack first. She's always been a sucker for chocolate.'_

Chuckling, Dip grabs his strawberry shake gratefully. "Thanks, Mace!" The two suck 'em down before I remember to give my brother's wallet back.

"Oh, here, Dipper." He looks at me weird until I pull out his leather carrier of money.

"PSH! GAH!" Strawberry goes everywhere when he spat out his drink. "Macie! What the heck!?" His voice cracks a little.

"What? You want me to _keep_ the wallet?" I ask with an innocent glint in my irises.

Chortles and guffaws come from across the table where the supposed adult figures are sitting, still nibbling on left over fries.

"No!" he swipes his wallet, "You cannot _keep_ the wallet! Did you buy these milkshakes with _my_ money?!"

"Eh, maybe? Thanks for the treat, by the way!" I side hug the fuming boy.

Pouting, and eyebrow twitching, the boy goes back to sucking his straw, grumbling about things I can't understand.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: SpongeBob's broken laugh box~~**

 **November 18th**

"And I want it to be purple!" I smile, throwing my hands up in the air as I sit at the kitchen table with my mother. Said woman sighs with a shake of her head.

"Honey, I don't think your teacher would appreciate your volcano to be purple. It's not accurate."

"But, it's not like we're being graded or anything? I think being expressive through my creativity will be enough!" I give her an eye-closed smile while proudly putting my hands on my hips.

She looks uncertain. "I still think you should make some sort of impression."

"I'm not even that good with science. I like art a lot better."

"Fine. We'll make your volcano better. Maybe Mabel would even help decorate it?"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather not have my project suffocate in glitter and not to mention have it be bedazzled." I finger a pen. "Can we just finish this? I really wanna see the twins' project coming along."

"Sure."

After about an hour of building the darn thing, we finally laid down the paper mâché and Mom left me to tend to other things while she expects me to sit here and watch it dry.

 _'Joke's on her, I've got fan-fiction!'_ I triumphantly laugh in my head while pulling out my phone to read.

"Hey," I jump at Dipper's voice, "how's yours coming along?"

"Um, fine? Just waiting for this," I gesture to the wet newspaper, "to dry. Just reading some story I found."

"Gravity Falls again?" he asks, an eyebrow raised with an amused smirk.

"Nope!" His smirk falls. "Why? You wanted me to read something on you? Hmm," I mock think, putting a finger to my chin, "maybe I could go read some Bill-Dip. Yes, yes, I know of one that I could-"

Flipping out, the boy stops me, "Okay! Okay! I get your point!" He takes a seat next to me. "So what _are_ you reading?"

I wonder why he cares so much. "Oh, uh, it's from an anime. You wouldn't know it. It's called Black Butler. Hecka good."

"Sounds pretty cool. Is it on...uh whaddya call it?"

"Netflix. And yeah, it was just put on recently. But I don't wanna drag you two into a different show while we're on Miraculous."

Pine Tree stands up, reaching into a cupboard. "Fair enough," he says, ripping into a fruit snack, before tossing me one spontaneously.

"Whoa!" I catch it, barely, and nod in a silent thanks. "I'm kinda nervous," I admit, noming on the squishy snack.

"Don't be."

 _'Wow, such advice! Much help!'_ Rolling my eyes, I voice my thoughts, "How can I not? People will be judging me."

"Not really, just the teachers and even then, no one fails."

"I guess..."

"Welp," Dipper sighs, getting up once more, "I gotta head back to my room with Mabel. Who knows what she's doing to our project being by herself..."

I chuckle, "Yeah, haha."

And now I'm left alone with my thoughts and a stupid looking volcano that's slowly drying.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Bench Lasagna~~**

 **November 21st**

"Still nervous?" A hand reaches my shoulder, causing me to jump in place.

"Not too much anymore, I'll admit. Though my stomach could stand not to flip flop all about." I try my hand at a joke but even to me it sounds forced.

My male counterpart slaps my back. "Eh, it's okay, Mom'll be with ya!"

 _'Gee thanks, Dipper...'_

"And have they seen your guys' yet?"

"Nope! It's under a cloth! I'm so excited!" He closes his fists and shakes them together in front of his chest.

"Yeah? I just wish I KNEW what it is exactly you two created!" Yes I'm a little ticked off that they wouldn't show me.

"Ah chill out. You'll see it soon enough. Mabel and I have got this win in the bag! I can't wait to see the look on Alex's face!" _'Malicious intentions much? Yikes! Look at his face!'_

Indeed Dipper's face looks like he's about to succeed in world domination.

"Speaking of this 'Alex', when I am going to meet this child you oh-so-hate? I feel like you two have a bigger rivalry than Lil' Gideon."

"Eh, you're probably right..." Mabel jumps in, literally, engulfing me in a surprise hug. I've told her many times not to do that, but what good does that do? It's Mabel we're talking about. "Alex is over by the project table, showing it off to some observers."

"Great so let's go meet-"

"No! I don't wanna talk to Alex!"

"Oh shut up!" I grab the boy's wrist with extreme strength. It's probably reddening as we walk over but I don't care. "Alex!"

Said person looks up, fixing the glasses on their face. "Oh, hello there, Triplets."

 _'Wait...ALEX IS A GIRL?! This entire time I was under the impression she was a boy!'_

I try to hide my shock.

"Hey, Alex! What's your project for the fair? Think you can beat Dipper and I together?" Mabel asks sweetly with no false kindness.

"Something secret. I won't tell you but I do think I can still win even _if_ I'm by myself. Just like all the other years." She sniffs, covering a piece of her secret project under the cloth that got disarrayed.

Folding his arms, Dip looks away while grumbling.

"Attention everyone! Our judges are now going to be going around to judge those who have signed up to be eligible for the prize! Please be by your table and have your presentation ready!"

"Looks like it is time to be judged. Good luck, you two." Alex turns back to her table, waiting for us to leave, by the way she's not removing the cloth.

Dipper leads the way to his shared table and they, together, enthusiastically throw off their sheet that had been covering it.

I stand there, mouth agape in surprise. _'I showed them the infomercial in attempts to inspire them! I didn't expect them to_ _ **re-create**_ _the inventions!'_

"Ta-daaaa!" Mabel does the 'Jazz Hands'.

"Whaddya think, Mace?" Dipper smirks.

"It's uh..." On the table lies one big journal (not designed after THE journals however) in a Journalert and another in a Book Sweater. "It's really awesome you two re-created the inventions...but how in any way is this going to win? It's not really science?"

Dipper pumps his hands downwards with a chuckle, "Don't worry, Mace. My part is the actual science. Mabel's part is the creative side that gives it that flare."

"Uh...huh..." I drawl out, not convinced. While the judge comes over to judge, I decide to check on Alex's invention.

"And with a push of this button, my device will create and burn a perfect circle through this piece of wood." I came just as she was demonstrating her...futuristic laser gun!?

The crowd that formed oohed and awed from the display. _'Okay, I admit, this thing is gonna be way too hard to beat. I hope Dipper knows what he's doing.'_

Returning to my siblings, I see said brother is struggling to put his makeshift journal into the Journalert.

"Uh, heh heh, what's goin' on?" I ask.

The boy, who is overly sweating, mind you, turns to me in a panic. "Macie! I can't put the journal in! I literally measured it a hundred times! Like Jason did, but better!"

I face palm. Hard. "Oh my go- Dipper how the hel- how in the ever loving alternate universe did you mess up this bad!?" I grab the book and try for myself. Yup. It's too small. "Ugh.." I shove the book back at him and go sit next to our parents.

"What happened?" Dad asks.

"Dipper's a dunce."

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: "The future is now! Thanks to science! Clemontic Gear on!" -Clemont Pokemon XY and XYZ~~**

"I can't believe Alex won! ...Again!" The brunette pouts with his hands in his pockets as he kicks pebbles on the walk back to the car.

"It's okay, son, there's always next year...again..." Dad puts his hand around his only boy and leads him ahead of us, talking about girls.

I glance over to my sister who had been eerily silent. "Whoa!" She's quiet because she's counting stacks of cash! "Mabel, where'd you get all that money?"

"Huh?" The brunette looks up and then smiles, "Oh, a lot of girls came up and wanted to buy my Book Sweaters! I didn't have much but luckily I brought the extras! One even said I should start making them and selling them at the student store!"

"That's actually a great idea! You should do it!" I encourage.

"Okay! I will! You can help me with design ideas, too!"

I nod happily, not minding in the slightest. "So, I finally met Alex...She doesn't seem bad, I wonder why Dipper hates her," I ponder.

"I think it's mostly how she always beats him..."

"True. But she didn't seem evil, or overly confident. I think Dipper over-exaggerates too much."

Mom giggles, "Oh? And you're only just _now_ figuring that out?"

"Ha. Ha." I stick my tongue out at her.

 **~~Time Skip~~**

 _~~Diary Entry~~_

 _11-21-12_

 _Welp, the twins lost the science fair but I think Mabel was just happy to have worked with her brother. Alex is actually pretty nice, so it's a shame I haven't met her up until now. Plus, she's in completely different classes, so that's a thing, too._

 _Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I'm flipping out because a bunch of relatives I don't know are coming over. I should ask Mom and Dad if we could invite 'Aiden'..._

 _Wait- WHERE WAS BILL THROUGHOUT ALL OF THIS?!_

 _~Macie_

 **The laser Alex built and even the presentation she did was all based off Mindy Crenshaw and what she did for their science fair on Drake and Josh!**


	22. Holiday Antics

**Okay everybody, please bare with me while I create a bunch of relatives!**

 **Thank you, Bedrock Armor, for HeadChat!** _ **(FaceTime)**_

 **November 22nd**

 **9 am**

 _'This is so stupid...'_ I roll my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time today.

On the floor beneath me, ('cause I'm on the floor like a teen girl, flat on my stomach, propped up by elbows) is a sheet of lined paper with a name crudely jotted down.

"I don't know why you're so nervous... Maybe, like, in the back of your brain you have _some_ sort of memories of your relatives."

"Like I said...no, I do not." I angrily scribble out a misspelled name with my pen. _'Why am I writing with a freaking pen!?'_

"Macie...?"

I grind my teeth as I reply, "What?"

"You're ripping the paper..." Mabel points to the poor thing as I, yup, I broke through.

"Oh come ON!" I throw the pen across my shared room, narrowly dodging a Sev'ral Timez poster.

The girl pouts with her hands on her hips, whining in a sort of reprimanding manner, "Hey! What did Creggy G. do to you?"

"He existed!"

Mabel flinches slightly, causing guilt to rise within me.

"Wait-aw! Mabel I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," I stand up and dust myself off with a somber frown.

"I know," she grins, "that's why I'm gonna help you! Wait- what _are_ you doing anyways?"

 _'I don't deserve her as a sister oh em gee...'_

"I'm making some sort of...cheat sheet? Of the relatives coming to dinner... Oh, I also gotta ask Mom and Dad if Bill can come over. I really hope he can. What if I just, like, start asking for Bill to come here? Think he'd just appear? Think he can hear us?"

"Er...I doubt it? He has limited powers doesn't he?" She makes a point.

"True..." _'I'm gonna do it when I'm alone... that way I won't embarrass myself!'_

Walking over, Mabel stands over me after I sit back down and grab my paper. "So who do you have so far?" she inquires.

"Er... I got Shermy..." I flush as I did not think this plan through. "I only know of him from the show and that he's your guys' grandfather but we don't know anything else on the Pines family tree."

"Well," tilting her head up, Shooting Star places a finger on her chin as she stares at the ceiling, "there's two aunts, two uncles, five cousins, and one dog coming over today. Not including Bill and his parents if you ask about them, too."

"Holy," is all I say. "Could you write down all their names for me? Pretty please?" I beg with my hands clasped together. "I wanna go ask Mom about Bill before anything else."

"Okay!" She takes the pen from me and goes to get a new piece of paper.

Smiling, I exit my room and head downstairs. I find our mom in the kitchen. She's mumbling in annoyance and urgency. "Mom? Whatcha doin'?"

Steps to approach a distressed mom:

Step one. Tread carefully.

Step two. Ask what you wanna ask carefully and nicely.

"Trying to find the stuffing I need for the turkey but I can't find it!"

Step three. Offer to help no matter the situation.

"Do you need help?"

"Ugh, no!" Mom cries and turns around to face me. I raise an eyebrow in question, deciding not to speak. "We're out! We're completely out of stuffing! Ooohhh!" she growls the last part out.

I'm just standing here thinking to myself, _'Does that mean she has to go to the store? If so, I wanna go!'_

"Are you going to the store, then?" I ask with no hint of excitement.

She throws her arms up, leaving the kitchen and grabbing her purse with a huff, "Well I have to, now!"

"Can I come?!" I follow her.

"I don't care! Hurry up!" She goes out the door presumably to the family car. I rush upstairs to grab my bag and phone, bumping into my sister along the way.

"Oomf! Sorry!" she giggles. "Here's your cheat sheet."

"Oh, thanks." I take it and hurriedly go into my room and grab my bag, coming back out to see Mabel is still there. "Mom's going to the store to get stuffing that we don't have. She was super upset about it, too," I explain, guessing that she was wondering why I was rushing about.

"Ah, well have fun! Mom is scary on Thanksgiving!"

"Tell me about it..." I close the front door behind me and get to the car that's already waiting to drive off.

"Buckle, hurry up!" Hastily, I do as Mom says.

I smirk at her. "Geez, woman, what's the hurry?" I think now's a better time to joke around and be myself. Maybe I can cheer her up a bit.

I think I got a smidgen of a smile out of her, which is a start.

This is my first Thanksgiving with the Pines family so everything is still quite new; like how our mother acts during this time, for example.

"Well, whatever the matter. We'll be home in no time! It won't take long to go in and grab a bag or two of stuffing!"

"Very funny. You know how the stores are during this week. I'll be lucky to even get a parking spot! Also, now that I'm thinking, don't you hate coming to the store on Thanksgiving?" She looks over to me with a suspicious look.

"Er..." _'What the heck do I say to that?!'_

"If your brother or sister put you up to this, you know you didn't have to, right? Was it Mabel? She's always playing pranks on you and Dipper."

"Um, no! It wasn't them, I wanted to go because...you looked like you need help and whatnot...?" I cringe at my voice rising at the end, causing it to sound like a question.

"Well I appreciate it either way." Mom smiles at me as we pull into the store parking lot. The smile disintegrates immediately. "What is this!? There's literally NO spot to park!"

I gape. "Whoa..." Not even the very back has spots! "I don't think I've _ever_ seen this happen before..." I mumble to myself.

 **11 am**

"How long have we been circling the parking lo-ha-hot!" I whine, slumping down into my seat,

"Too...long," Mom growls through clenched teeth.

"OH!" I sit up faster than Mabel on Smile Dip, pointing at a car exiting its spot. "Right there! Get it, get it!" Mom quickens our pace, getting right behind the car.

She breathes a huge sigh of relief, "Thank goodness...Good eye, Mace!"

So, we're behind this car that is pulling out. There is also another car ahead of said car pulling out. We're on a wide road, so this car, again, ahead of us, pulls in reverse to come between our car and the car coming out.

"What are they doing?" I ask in confusion.

When the old people in the parking spot finally pull out completely, they take their leave and Mom readies to take our much deserved spot. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" The people who reversed in between us just zoomed and took our spot!

"What in the ever loving FRICK?" I yell, flabbergasted and angered. Probably not as much as the adult in the driver seat, though. _'I'm almost afraid to look at her...'_

"Wow. I can NOT believe some people! The nerve! Where is common human decency, HUH?!" Yeah, she's mad...

Suddenly, an idea pops into my head. "Mom..why don't you tell me what we need and I'll hop out and get it really quick?"

Blinking, the woman pulls out some money from her purse.

"Why the heck did we not think about that?" I shrug in response, pocketing the money and opening the door.

"What do we need, again?"

"Grab two bags of quality stuffing. I don't care what brand because the one I want is most likely going to be out. Actually, everything's going to be wiped, so just grab whatever is there."

"Okay." I slam my door shut and run into the entrance of the store, side stepping a couple kids and their parents who shot me a dirty look for almost running into their children. _'Wasn't my fault their parents don't know how to keep them close!'_

 _'Stuffing, stuffing...where's the aisle with stuffing?!'_ The whole place is crowded with bustling civilians running amok grabbing whatever they can at the last minute. _'It's literally...'_ I look at my phone, _'only eleven forty five am! Geez!'_

Finally, I spot aisle 11, which holds what I'm looking for! _'Aaaaaaaaaand everything's wiped...'_

Wait.

There.

In the middle of the shelves that were supposed to be holding bags of stuffing...

A single bag.

 _'Mom needs two, though...'_ I think to myself, wondering what to do. Thinking quickly, I run up and grab the remaining bag as well as thinking of what to do next.

Thank goodness I got this one when I did, 'cause immediately afterwards, a woman walks up to the shelves looking, taking a moment to glance around before turning furious.

I hide my bag and hastily walk away.

 **12 pm**

 _'Fifteen minutes. That's how long this line is taking!'_ I scowl, checking the time on my phone for the millionth time this morning.

The lines for self checkout are even worse!

Luckily, I'm next.

They didn't have any other brand of stuffing that I'm aware of, _'Seriously what's wrong with people and their stuffing!? Stove Top is better!'_ , so I just hope Mom will be glad I got the one.

"And did you find everything okay today?" the cashier man asks in a monotonous voice like he's already said it 700 times this morning.

 _'Scratch that, he probably has.'_

I reply how I always do. Awkward and quiet. "Uh, yeah," handing him the ten I received from Mom prior as he bags my purchase.

And with no other words exchanged besides a quick "Have a nice day" and "You, too", I exit the store.

My phone starts buzzing. It's probably Mom wondering where the heck I am. "Hello? No I just got out front. Oh, I see you, never mind!"

I shove the phone back into my pocket as I tighten my grip on the plastic bag, running up to where the family car is circling. _'Wow, she still hasn't gotten a spot?'_

"Hey!" I must have spaced out as I got up to the vehicle, for the window's down on the passenger side and my Mom's yelling at me.

"Sorry!" I throw the bag in the open window and then shove myself inside, buckling up and asking, "Did you not find a spot this whole time?"

"I did, but moved again about five minutes ago."

I make an 'O' face and we fall back into an uncomfortable silence.

 _'That reminds me, I forgot to ask about Bill!'_

I clear my throat, earning a questioning hum. "I was wondering if we could invite me and the twins' friend, Aiden, over?"

"I dunno, kiddo, don't you think they'd have plans, too? Plus we got everyone else coming over..."

I turn to face her fully, clasping my hands together. "Oh please, Mom?" I beg, jutting my lip out. _'I thought I'd never do this yet here I am.'_ I internally sigh.

Mom sighs, too, "Well... I guess it won't hurt. But they have to contribute to dinner, deal?"

I grin, "It's a DEAL!"

 **12:30 pm**

We make it home when I finally realized that I didn't tell Mom that I only got one bag of stuffing.

 _'Crap... I'll just place the bag on the table and leave quietly...'_ I ponder what might happen if she explodes from stress today.

"Mabel! I'm home!" I call, running up the stairs.

"Hey! Finally! You guys took hours!"

I groan, "Don't remind me," tossing my backpack to the side and lying down. "Mom said we can invite 'Aiden'," I air quote his name, "over as long as they bring some food or whatever."

"Oh, cool! Also," Mabel stands up, having been sitting down on my computer chair, "here's the list of names you can get to know tonight!"

I sit up and grab it, eyeing the names I'll be searing into my brain.

 _~Mabel's amazing family cheat sheet!~_

 _•_ _Emilia + David Price - Keith 12 - Kate 14 - Claudette (Dettie) 9_

 _•_ _Anna + Elias Michaelis - Mary Ann 8 - Quentin 15 - (Dog) Dakota_

I thank my sister and head back out of our room. _'Huh... Alright, some names are...exotic? But this may be a walk in the park!'_

"Macie! Where's Mabel?!" Dipper comes bursting out from his closed door, a big smile on his face.

I jab a thumb behind my shoulder. "In our room, why?"

"Stan and Ford are on HeadChat right now!"

"What!" I cry, already running back into my room for our sister. "Mabel! Come quick! Stan and Ford are on HeadChat!"

"OMIGOSH! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? GO GO GO!" she screams pushing past me and tripping her way to the boy's room.

I calm down a smidgen by the time we get into Dipper's abode and he's already there with his phone propped up on a stack of books. "Hey kiddos!" Grunkle Stan waves from the tiny screen with a huge smile on his face.

 _'It's really them! Oh my gosh! I didn't think we'd talk 'til next Summer or something!'_

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel tears up a bit, grinning impossibly wide.

"How are you guys connecting to us?" Dipper asks curiously, though he's smiling, too.

"We uh- Ford! How are we connecting again?" Stan calls his brother over from steering their boat.

 _'They're still sailing?!'_

"Kids! Greetings! Sorry, I had to steer us back on track, but I should be able to speak now! Anyway, we got in the area where we were able to have a long range connection to the next stop!"

"Awesome! Where are you guys at?" I question, not missing the relaxed tone and glimmer of happiness both older twins are giving me.

"We're about to port in Iceland. There are strange anomalies happening there!" Ford said excitedly.

 _'That's awesome that they're still hunting the paranormal together!'_

"Oh yeah! We finally got connection to say this:" Stan punches his brother and at the same time they say,

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Awww, thanks you guys!" Mabel literally wipes a tear from her eyes. I roll my eyes with a smile.

"Macie," Ford catches my attention, "how are you? Everything going okay?"

"Umm," I glance to my siblings who just shrug, probably wanting to know my answer as well. "It's been great, actually. I'm having a lot of fun."

And that's the truth.

"That's splendid! Now lemme tell you three what we've been doing..."

 **2 pm**

We got stuck talking to the Stan twins for an hour and half or so when our mom called us down.

All three of us stop in the walk way between the kitchen and the living room as we await what Mom said.

"Okay, first," the adult has her hands on her hips and I'm _totally_ not scared because of it, "Macie. You only got one bag of stuffing and forgot to tell me but I'm just going to assume that it was because everything was gone, right?"

I nod hastily, "Yeah, sorry bout that."

"Okay, and second, I want you two," she points to the original twins, "to start setting _up_ the table. Your father already brought in the extra plastic ones."

Groaning, the two leave to do their newly appointed jobs.

"Mace, you're in charge of _setting_ the table."

"Okay." I leave to grab the paper plates and forks. _'Let's see... How many people are coming? CRAP I FORGOT TO INVITE BILL!'_

Panicking, I drop my phone out of my hands. Picking it up and wiping it of hair, I then proceed to text our three sided fiend- friend.

 **Bill: OH MY AXOLOTL THANK GOODNESS YOU INVITED US!**

I raise an eyebrow, texting back a response.

 **Me: ?**

 **Bill: My parents wanted to drive 3 HOURS to another church for thanksgiving! But when I told them about you, they were glad to have a home family dinner. YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER! I WAS GONNA PUKE IF I HAD TO STAY INSIDE A CHURCH FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR AND A HALF.**

I snort.

 **Me: You're welcome Bill. XP**

 ***Ding Dong***

Mom answers the door.

 _'Here come the relatives...'_

 **Wow I'm sorry this took so long to write and put out! I'm just always so busy and combine that with no idea on what to write, well it gets hard... But I hope you all enjoy it anyways! There will be a part 2 for Thanksgiving as well so I hope y'all are excite for that!**

 _ **Editor's note: Yeah, I'm excite for it, too...just hope we don't have to actually wait until it's OUR Thanksgiving to get to see it!**_

 **YOU KNOW WHAT?**

 **On another note. The names David, Kate, Claudette, Anna, Elias, their last name Michaelis, Quentin, and Dakota are all specific from somewhere. ;) Good luck figuring it out!**

 **Actually, I'll give you Dakota. She's our dog's name :D**


	23. Starry Night

**Alright so, the names are pretty biased because they could come from a number of things. So, technically, all of your guesses would be correct. However, what I had in mind when writing their names are:**

 **Quentin, David, Claudette, Kate, and Anna are from Dead By Daylight.**

 **Elias is from The Ancient Magus Bride. The last name Michaelis is from Black Butler. All the other names are random, haha.**

 **November 22nd**

 _'Here come the relatives...'_

In an instant, before I could stumble out of the line of children, kids come barreling through the doorway as soon as Mom opens it. "Ack! Agh!" I ungracefully pick up my feet while awkwardly trying to not step on little people since they're shorter than me and they're trying to crawl under my legs.

After Claudette and _'Mary? No, Mary Ann, yeah,'_ run by, I take a breath but not before getting swooped into a hug by some random adult I've never consciously met in my entire life.

"Oh Macie! Look how _big_ you've grown!" _'Actually I've shrunk, but you don't need to know that, random relative!'_

"Hai..." I try to squeeze out but it sounds like Stitch attempting to speak instead. I look to Mabel who stifles a giggle behind her petite hand, mouthing, 'Who?'.

Instead of silently telling me who was hugging me, she instead joins in on the squeezing while happily greeting the strong woman. "Hi, Aunt Emilia! Happy Thanksgiving!"

 _'Ah, Emilia then... Safe to assume she's super affectionate?'_

A standing by Mom drops her smile when she notices our socially awkward teen brother is nowhere to be found. _'Lucky him...'_

"Dipper!"

Emilia finally lets both me and my sister go when Dipper replies comically, "Whaaaaat?"

"Get down here and greet everyone!"

"Whaaaaaat?"

I roll my eyes, thinking of someone from my past.

"I said-!" She sighs, going upstairs. "I'll go get Dipper, you girls go make sure everything's not getting messed up by the kids.

"Kay," Mabel agrees before I could put in my two cents. By this time, I realize only now that we were alone for the entire scream fest since our relatives already made themselves comfy in the living room.

"I don't know if I can do this, Mabes," I wipe my forehead of newly formed sweat, my hands feeling clammy and, _'Is it getting hot in here or is it just me?'_

Mabel frowns. "Aw, don't worry, Mace, me and Dip Dop will help, okay? So don't hesitate to ask!"

As we enter the living room, a boy's voice whines out, "Moooom! Claudette's tryna get her grubby little hands in the cookies!"

I raise an eyebrow for two things.

1\. Who brought cookies and who am I hugging?!

2\. By the tone of Claudette screaming and crying about not _getting_ said cookies, I'm a little more than worried about meeting the Price family now.

"You'll get used to them..." Shooting Star informs me. She gestures to 'Dettie' as everyone calls Claudette, "Dett' is, like, the queen of drama."

"More so than you?" I snip with a giggle. She laughs back.

"But really, she can get...what's the word without being rude?"

 _'Selfish? A brat? A baby?'_

"Spoiled..."

 _'Ah...great...'_

"Oh joy," I roll my eyes but point to the boy who complained to his mom, Keith, Dettie's brother, "What about him?"

"He's twelve but super immature unlike yours truly!" I snort as my sister stands proudly with her hands on her hips.

"So basically we got an annoying twelve year old and a nine year old who expects to get whatever she wants?"

"Ehhh...-"

"Yup." Dipper comes walking in, Mom passing us to go into the kitchen. He continues, "And that's not all! We also got the cliche teenage girl on her phone, Kate. The only cool cousin here," - we ignore Mabel's disapproval for such insults to our family- "is Quentin."

"Mary-Ann's sweet!" Mabel argues with a huff.

Dipper shrugs, "Yeah, but also quiet so if you wanna talk to her good luck getting her to talk back."

I take all of this in greedily, enjoying the fact that I'll have at least some knowledge before nose-diving into a place of no return that is family.

"And the parents? Emilia and David?" I ask.

Before anyone could answer, the bell rings. And before anyone could answer _that_ , a little girl comes barreling through, almost toppling me and my siblings, all the while squealing her tiny lungs out that, 'she's got it!'.

I sigh, already wishing to be alone.

She stupidly opens the door and by open, I mean literally flinging it open so hard it bangs on the wall and literally closes itself again. I look to the twins and see Mabel face-palming while Dipper throws his head back with a sigh.

 _'I guess this is Dettie's usual obnoxious behavior...'_

"What on earth was that!?" Mom runs in, looking panicked. Without speaking, I just point to the little menace. Mom sighs knowingly- 'Man what the heck did I get myself into!?'- and escorts our cousin out of the way.

I take this as a chance to reopen the front door and smile at Bill and his arrival. "Hey! I'm so glad you guys could make it!" I greet and inspect his 'parents' faces. Their smiles seem forced. Probably when the door slammed in their faces.

That kind of thing tends to ruin first impression.

"Heya, Ring!" Bill waves and then steps inside, gravitating towards the kitchen, "Mmm, smells good!" Annnnd there he goes.

The twins welcome the adults as well and I leave them to do whatever the Pines twins do at Thanksgiving while trying to figure what _I_ wanna do.

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: Mingling! I'm not good at it!~~**

Anna and Michaelis seem a little too...proper for me. Elias is most definitely British and Anna's super primped up for a family's Thanksgiving get together. Their daughter, Mary-Ann is super cute but like Dipper said, she's also super shy and didn't talk much to me, so I leave her to her own devices and go to meet Quentin.

"Hey," I greet. He looks up from a handheld tablet, his glasses slouched. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Oh," he sits up and pushes his glasses back over his eyes, "Macie! I didn't see you there! Um, I'm just reading a story on my MyPad."

I glance down to look but he blushes and brings it up to his chest. My eyebrow raises in peaked curiosity but he splutters and takes off. _'Okaaay? I'll have to ask the twins about that later...'_

"Okay everyone! It's dinner time!" Dad calls from the extended dinner table. The family gathers around. The kids all sit on one end while the adults gather at the other. I have to sit by Claudette. Lucky me.

I lean over and whisper to Bill, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since you got here!"

"I got mesmerized by food! This solid stuff is great! It never gets old! I can't believe I never gambled with this stuff my entire existence!" I roll my eyes. Typical Bill.

"MOOOM! I want a cookie!" I instinctively cover my ear quickly when Claudette screams into it.

"Not until after dinner, honey," Emilia replies warmly, like her kid didn't just make me deaf in one ear.

"No! I want it now! I want it now! I want it NOW!" She pounds her fist into the table. Mabel slams her head into the table with her ears covered while Dipper sighs and rests his cheek in his hand. Bill looks like he isn't even hearing her.

"How do you do it!?" I ask him.

"Hm? Oh, I choose not to hear her!" is all he says before going back to serving himself copious amounts of food.

My face goes blank in a 'WTF' moment.

When she screams again, and I literally flinch while my face contorts in pain and anger, that is when I break. "STOP!" I cry, slamming my hands down onto the table as I stand up, causing everyone to go silent, even Claudette.

"Mace!"

"Macie!"

I ignore the twins and turn to the little gremlin. "Okay? Just stop! Stop screaming in my ear. Stop screaming in general, actually, because _you're not getting a cookie!_ "

The girl blinks, tears forming in her eyes and cries. I roll my eyes, fed up with today.

"Macie!" Mom stands up, looking annoyed. " _What_ has gotten into you today?" The table murmurs.

"N-nothing! I-" I glance around the table, suddenly feeling naked, "-UGH!" and leave upstairs to my shared bedroom, slamming the door accidentally.

My head feels like it's literally going to explode! I have a pounding headache, my stomach is every which way between nausea and pain and I know next to nothing of my supposed family!

"Ahem..." I spin around, finding Dipper and Mabel, plus one former triangular demon now in human boy form standing behind them licking mashed potatoes off a spoon.

"Did I say that out loud?!"

"Yeah," Mabel smiles forlornly.

"You've been uh..." Dipper gestures to my dresser. I sigh angrily.

"Yes, Dipper, I've been taking them... What I can't get angry without pills coming up?!"

"Yes! Wait, no- I!"

His splutters crack a smile, "Pfft, never mind, idgit."

"I-idgit...?" We ignore his incoherent muttering as he tries to make sense of the word I called him.

"Mom's worried about you, saying you haven't been yourself today," my sister informs.

"Yeah? Well I've been really stressed, okay?"

"Clearly," Bill chimes in.

"Can-it, Bill!" both twins turn around and cry at the same time. I laugh as they turn back to me.

Sighing, I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. "Look, I love living here with you guys and all but...when I made my decision I didn't think about everything else like relatives. I just wanted to be with you guys and the rest of the cast. I'm so dumb to think everything would be like a fairy-tale."

"Well, of course not," Dipper sits beside my thigh, "We understand you probably didn't have a long time to decide." I shake my head. "So of course all this stuff would be overwhelming. But we're here for you all the way through, never forget that. Ford and Stan are a call away. Soos and Wendy, heck even Gideon, are willing to listen."

My bed suddenly dunks in itself, indicating Mabel's presence. "Dip Dop's right!" she bounces, "You can always talk to someone if you're feeling this way! It doesn't have to be us! And we'll always help you when you need it!"

"I knooooooow! You guys are literally the best siblings anyone could ask for!" I cover my eyes with an arm, just wanting to sleep.

"Come on, Mace... come eat dinner." Dipper shakes me gently. I groan and swat at his arm.

"Nooo-ack!" I choke on the air as I feel myself get airborne.

"What the?" Dipper gets up while Mabel and I look to Bill. He smirks, twirling his finger in the air. As he does, I twirl, causing me to scream.

"Ah! Stahp! Bill!" I giggle.

"No can do, Ring! I'm takin' you down to eat! I can hear your stomach." I flush, covering said body part even though I knew it wouldn't help.

Pine Tree and Shooting Star follow, pumping their fists in the air, chanting, "Aiden! Aiden!"

 **~~Time Skip brought to you by: I bet you can guess my favorite Thanksgiving dish!~~**

When we got back down into the kitchen, I was nervous about facing everyone but Bill pushed me. Literally. Surprisingly, everyone was happy I came back and Emilia apologized for her daughter's behavior.

Thankfully, we finished our meal without anymore incidents. After supper, us kids retired to the living room to play Necronomiconopoly.

That was doozy of a time, if I do say so myself. Even Bill got frustrated and sighed a huge dramatic sigh of relief when his parents announced their departure.

The rest of the family left soon after, leaving me and my siblings sprawled out on the floor. Mabel's fast asleep when I ask, "Wanna go out back and watch the stars?"

I see him shrug out the corner of my eye and get up. Taking that as a yes, I follow suit. As we lie in the dew sprinkled grass, stars twinkling in the dark sky, I roll over to look at my brother.

He senses my gaze and looks at me questioningly. "Do you ever think of yourself in another world other than your own?"

One of his eyebrows rise, the corner of his lips mimicking the action. "Are you getting all existential on me, Macie?"

I snort, covering my mouth to keep the ugly sound in. "It can be a legit question!"

"Yeah! Maybe because that's exactly what happened to you!" He nudges my shoulder with a laugh. I can't help but punch him back.

"Shut up!" We fall back into a comfortable silence, closing our eyes and breathing in the rain kissed earth.

Without saying anything, I go back inside, ignoring Dipper's whispering words, and come back out with two pillows and a blanket. I lay back down, setting a pillow under his head and spreading the fuzzy comforter over our small bodies.

I hear his breathing even out after only two minutes. As I stare into the sky, I grab hold of my brother's hand and as my eyes close for the rest of the night, a shooting star passes by.

 **I literally just wrote 2000 words in 1 sitting but I haven't uploaded in months so I guess we're even :3**

 **I love you guys and I'm sorry for being away for so long! I got a job. I still stream on Twitch. I got a Bearded Dragon. His name's Hiccup ;).**

 **There probably won't be another chapter for a _long_ time, so I'm sorry about that but this is mainly a story where I can put my ideas together for a 1-shot like chapter to go along with REBORN :)**

 **(Ideas and motivation don't come often :( )**


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